Rewind Route
by Mekakucity
Summary: Shintaro learns that he can use Mary to go back in time. Going back in time...That's all he's ever wanted. When he does though, rather than saving Ayano as he'd planned to, he only serves to throw her into a bout of depression as severe as his own. A small change and the world (somehow) gets worse then ever before. Rated T for violence, mention of suicide, and the like.
1. Outlined

**Quick Note: I'm truly awful when it comes to timelines, so please forgive me. Plus I've forgotten a lot of what happens in the novels and what order they happen in. **

**I know this story starts after the eighth episode of the anime, where that lies within the novels…who knows. But this fanfic will mention things that only happen in the novels, so if you should probably read them before reading this.**

* * *

_I wait, but I fear that it will be for forever. My heart is throbbing with an unfamiliar feeling and I want it to end. A knock on my door would be the most welcomed sound in the world right now. _

_He's my friend, so there's no way he would forget about me…He'll come. He'll keep his promise. There's no reason why he wouldn't._

* * *

My blood runs cold as I see her face once more. Even if it is just a picture…It takes me back to the time that I've been trapped in for years. My mind has run over the course of that day more times than I can count. I've struggled to figure out how I could have changed it, and as if it was a story with Ayano as the main character, the play in my head rolls on with me as a hero, saving her from herself. Of course, I'm not a hero, and I never will be. Instead of saving her I ignored her silent, subtle pleas for help, and because of that she died.

Here I am though, starring at her smiling face once more as Mary slumbers on the couch at my side. My cold blood has frozen me in place.

I stand, just starring and wondering. I feel lost in Ayano's eyes. They seem to hide nothing, all I can see within them is genuine happiness…so why then? Why did I see her crying?

Only I saw her tears. Only I turned a blind eye.

The thick guilt I had only recently begun to bury is rising from the grave with a vengeance.

Why is _she_ in this picture? Why is Seto standing in front of _her_ smiling as if them being together used to be an everyday occurrence?

Mary stirs in her sleep, and I take a small step back. She opens her eyes to see my quivering. My fear and sadness is more than evident on my face, I'm sure, and she can see it.

"Shintaro…" she mumbles through her curtain of sleep.

"Mary…" I whisper back. Her eyes follow mine and soon we are at a standstill as we stare at the carefully framed photograph of a happy family that both of us could only dream of being a part of. "Ayano?" I ask, the name is directed towards no one, but I can tell that Mary is listening carefully.

"Danchou." The word that comes from her lips confuses me, and my eyes shift to hers in a daze. "You knew her didn't you?"

I'm dreaming. Of course. Another nightmare. Nothing new about that.

Mary throws her hands over her mouth, as if she's holding back a powerful sneeze. She's said something that she shouldn't have, I don't know who told her not to talk about Ayano, but it's obvious from the way her eyes are beginning to water that's she spoke too soon.

"How…did they know her?" I ask. Mary shakes her head profusely, still holding back her words. "It's okay, I won't get mad, just tell me." I sound patient, but in fact, I'm dying to know. What does the Mekakushi Dan have to do with Ayano, and why is it a secret from me?

"Ene-chan…Ene-chan said not to tell you," she replies, as cracks open between her fingers and the wall in front of her mouth breaks.

"Ene?" My world has ceased to make sense.

"She told us about how she met you."

"Ah, you mean about how she was sent to me in an email to destroy my life?"

"S…sure." Mary has a half-baked smile that only Kano would be able to pull off properly.

"It's important that you tell me everything Ene told you," I tell her, "Or I'll die."

The look on Mary's face is now one you would only be able to find on the face of a gullible loli, which very much plays in my favor.

"Why?" she asks me, wide-eyed.

"Ene and I long ago made a pact that if one of us ever keeps a secret from the other, then we both have to die." My words make no sense to me, but Mary has an odd brain, so all I can do is hope.

"That's so romantic!" Mary beams, "I'll tell you!"

My face feels hot. Once again she's interrupted everything completely wrong, but for the sake of finding out Ene's secrets I'll just have to go along with it for awhile. "Please do," I say.

"Ene-chan told me that she knew you in high school, and she also knew the original Danchou of Mekakushi Dan," Mary quickly tells me. The atmosphere grows tense as my fragile heart tries to absorb her words.

"Who was the original Danchou?" I ask, feeling a bit silly for using such a word.

"Ayano-chan!" Mary shouts her voice comes out far too happy and my chest throbs far too much. I think I might really faint.

"No way…Ene knew Ayano? And so did Kido, Seto, and Kano?" I ask her.

She smiles and nods, "Yeah."

This explains it. Kano didn't have to read my mind that night that he took on Momo's appearance to know that I had been dreaming about Ayano, he knew _it_ all along. He knew _her_ all along.

"And me…" I finish. She knew me…Which means…I knew her. Ene used to be human, and though I'd had my suspicions for sometime now; it still comes as a surprise. "How did I know her?"

"Umm…I think you were friends with her! Her name used to be Takane…or something like that…" Mary trails off, but it doesn't matter. Even if she kept talking, I don't know if I can stand to hear anymore.

I remember Takane. I've lived deep within the memories of my first and only high school year for two years now, so of course I remember Takane. Up until now though, her name has seemed distant, hidden behind Ayano's name. Takane was only ever in my life because Ayano was, she was simply a secondary character in the tragic story of why I became a NEET.

Takane and Haruka never bothered to visit my home after I locked myself away. No one did. The world moved on and forgot me, though I was still in it. Ayano, though, despite that she was gone from the world it couldn't ever really move on from her. There's no doubt that she was more loved than I.

Of course, that's what I thought, but slowly by surely each of my beliefs in life are being proved wrong. Takane has been by my side all along. I don't know why and I don't how, but she's been there, and yet I've always hated her for it. I instantly feel bad and an odd desire to seek out and apologize to Ene arises in my chest. I ignore it for the time being though, swearing to buy her a virtual soda or something later.

My mind wanders and I find myself thinking about Haruka. Ene wouldn't choose to stay by my side rather than to be by Haruka's, so something must have happened to tear them apart. All this time I've felt unloved, but in fact, I've been the one who forgot all about my other friends and selfishly engrossed myself in only my own problems. _How selfish can a person get? _I wonder about that and find that I'm even more disgusted with myself. _Have I done a single thing right in my life? _

Mary's blank face is still starring at mine. She must be confused since I haven't said anything in quite awhile. "What happened to Takane?" I ask.

"She was killed by her teacher, and then returned as Ene-chan…Kano thinks she has an eye power like us," Mary replies, her confusion clearing.

Her teacher was Ayano's dad…I know that. Ayano's dad murdered Takane, no way. Mary must have just heard this whole story wrong, either that or Ene was making it all up.

If Ene has an eye ability then someone else must have died with her, that's the way it works, or at least, that's how Kido says that it works. Her and her sister both died and she received a power, Kano and his mom both died and he got his, Momo and our dad had to die before she could get hers…Who died with Takane in order for her to come back as Ene? Was it Haruka? Or…was it Ayano?

A foul thought comes into my mind. I want to kill myself to make it disappear. I'm wrong to think such things. I'm broken. I'm broken. I need to stop now. Takane has every right to live…as much a right as Ayano, so then, why do I find myself wishing that Ayano had lived instead of her?

In a perfect world I would have become a NEET, so filled with guilt and depression that I felt as though I couldn't bear it anymore. Then, I would have received an email, opened the attached file and found a digital girl with a red scarf far too long for her small body. _"Hello Master! My name is Ayano! Pleasure to see you again! Ah, and don't worry about me killing myself and all, it's fine! I'm alright now! Let's listen to music together now, kay?" _

I shake my head to clear it and I try to focus once more on what Mary is saying. "Isn't that funny?" Mary giggles.

"Huh? What's funny?" I ask.

Mary's cheeks puff out as she folds her arms. Oh…now she's pouting, great. Can't zone out for a second around this girl, can I?

"How did Seto, Kido, and Kano meet Ayano?" I ask, ignoring her swinging emotions.

She cheers up rapidly. "She was their Onee-chan!"

"Their what?" I gape.

"Ayano's parents adopted them and then they formed the Mekakushi Dan," Mary continues.

Thinking back, Ayano may have mentioned her adopted brother's and sister's once or twice, or a million times, who knows? Back then, I didn't value the girl by the window and her words were even less important than Mary's 'funny' story. I remember being at her home once. There were pictures on the walls of what were then unfamiliar faces, small children danced around a younger Ayano, but I paid them no mind, I had just simply wondered why I was so unlucky as to get a lazy girl like Ayano as my partner for our upcoming science project, as I hurried to her kitchen to finish it up.

A silent tear trickles down my cheek, and I slap my hand onto my face to hide it from Mary.

Ayano had been my friend. I had thought she was an annoying pain, pushed her away, and ignored her, but in the end I think there was always a part of me that felt very differently then the rest of me. After her death that part was amplified and took over my body, sending me through a whirlwind of negative emotions. She wasn't the first person to die in my life. My own father had died, but even the whirlwind I had felt after that hadn't been quite as strong as this one. Did I love Ayano more than my own father? Did I even love Ayano? I still can't be sure. I can never be sure about anything since, I am, after all, constantly proving myself wrong.

"Shin…Shintaro?" Mary whispers, her concern for me leaking out. I had tried so hard to hide my tears, but it's rather hard when they keep on coming out like this.

"I wish that I could just rewind time," I mumble, as I crouch onto the ground and break out sobbing. How embarrassing. I'm weak, and not very handsome at all normally, so I can't even imagine the ugly creature that Mary must see on her carpet right now. There's snot and tears on my face, my hair is greased with sweat from my intense anxiety, and my lips are curled with the soft whimpers of my cries. Am I even a human boy, or am I just a slobbering dog with a tracksuit on?

Even still, the gentle Mary takes pity on me and she doesn't mock me, but her eyes tell my something. Her eyes tell me that she has another secret up her ruffled sleeves, and this one might be even harder to reach. "Re…rewind time, huh?" she laughs, as dainty beads of sweat collect on her forehead.

It's then that it hits me, that I'll just have to tickle Mary to get it out of her.

* * *

**Hello and welcome! This story will do its best to follow cannon, but certain things will be slightly altered, such as Mary's "Combining Eyes" ability will be a lot different, and in later chapters the timeline will be messed up a bit. (This time on purpose, though.) I hope that doesn't upset anyone! **

**I'll do my best to update soon, since it's summer that shouldn't really be too much of a challenge…**

**I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter and I hope that you'll read on and enjoy the upcoming chapters even more! I promise it will get more interesting! I love reviews, so please be kind and leave me one, along with a follow, thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kagerou Days or the cover photo.**


	2. Combined

Those five minutes were an intense battle. An intense tickle fight between the two weakest people on the planet, that is. Mary would have won if I hadn't remembered to close my eyes, since I did though, it gave me a bit of a disability, but in the process she was completely neutralized. I tickled her ruthlessly and she couldn't freeze me for even a second.

Things went on like this for awhile, but I could see her retreat coming from a mile away. Now, she's out of breath, begging me to stop. Taking advantage of a lady's weaknesses isn't very gentlemanly of me, but I've never cared much for being a gentleman. "Tell me what your hiding!" I shout, though I still can't be positive that she's really hiding anything at all.

"Fine," she whimpers, using the last bit of her energy. I still don't dare to open my eyes. I'm sure that my opponent is just waiting for me to let down my guard. I do, however, stop tickling her.

"Spill it," I say, harshly, "Or I'll die, remember?"

"I didn't ever make a pact with you, so you won't die if I keep a secret from you," Mary replies.

So then…this secret has nothing to do with Ene, this is Mary's secret. A girl so pure and innocent, it's hard to believe that she could possibly even have a secret. I better not waste my time just to find out in the end that she simply didn't want to tell me about one of her silly poems.

"Probably not, but you never know," I reply, "I die frequently."

The look on Mary's face says, _"You do?" _until she realizes that my words really don't make any sense, even in her gullible brain. "Stop Shintaro!" she shouts, "I don't want to talk about this anymore…"

"Talk about what?" I ask.

She's crying now. Oh my gosh, she's really crying. Mary cries a lot, so it really isn't anything new, but still…

"You…okay?"

She nods slowly, "Yeah…"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you like this," I reply, guilt flowing out of my mouth.

"It's okay." She smiles at me. "Maybe it's time to tell someone, anyway." I feel flattered, to say the least. She's really going to tell me her secret! Her secret that no one else knows! Does this mean that we're friends? I guess so…Do I want a friend like her? Maybe. "I have two eye powers, Shintaro."

Oh does she? How nice for her. Wait…She does? "What is the other one?" I ask her.

"I can reverse time…"

This is obviously hard for her to talk about for some reason. My brain is already whirling with excitement. I just wished that I could rewind time, and here in front of me is a girl who claims that she can do that very thing. Hope abounds.

"How?" How can she do such a thing? How is that really possible? Can she only go five minutes back in time? If there are ridiculous stipulations like that I think I'll faint along with my hopeful heart.

"I'm not sure…I use everyone's eye powers to do it…" she turns red with a blush, "I'm sorry, I can't remember much about it, because whenever I rewind time I get choose which memories the people around me will keep from before I rewound their lives...unless they died before I reversed everything, in which case they automatically forget it all, which is why Seto, Kido, and Kano, don't remember that I have this power."

"Wait…what are you saying? Are you saying that Seto, Kido, and Kano all died?"

She covers her mouth again, just like she did when she had said too much about Ene's secret. Once again she's told me far too much, and once again she's regretting it.

"I've forced myself to forget how they died…" she whispers. She's crying again, and understandably so. Who could have guessed that such an innocent girl was carrying such a large and tragic secret, certainly not I.

She sits on the lone couch in the room and I sit down besides her. The open window lets the wind blow the silky curtains against our backs. It's peaceful, or it would be if both of us couldn't taste the tension and despair within the air. "It's alright," I whisper, "It won't happen again, so don't worry. I wouldn't let it happen."

"P…promise?" she asks me.

This is a promise I can't keep. This is a promise that I shouldn't make… "I promise," I say with a smile.

I have more questions, many more questions that I'm dying to ask, but I don't want to hurt her, so I'll have to filter through them. "Is this the first time that we've met?" I ask her, wondering if I've died before right alongside the Mekakushi Dan.

She nods, "Yeah, I'm…pretty sure."

"So then, things are changing right? Changing for the better…there's no way it will happen again." I'm convincing myself. I'm a coward, and I'm beginning to fear for my life. She's obviously rewound time on multiple occasions, so who knows how many times Mary has watched the others die. If it were to happen again there's a good chance that I'd die as well this time, not that it matters, either way my life would restart from the point of her choosing. Though…dying sounds rather painful. I wonder how it would happen…Do the Mekakushi Dan decide to take a vacation and get killed in a fiery plane crash? Do they get murdered by an unknown entity who was once wronged by Kano? Who knows? Who wants to know? I certainly hope that I never find out.

"No way…" she whispers, working hard to convince herself as well.

"This power…do you think you could do me a favor?"

She nods her head, "Sure, what is it?"

"Will you rewind time to two years back?" I ask. The words leave my mouth before I can stop them. This isn't a favor, I'm not asking her to go to the supermarket and pick me up a carton of milk, I'm asking her to restart the entire world from two years back! No, this is so wrong of me, how could I? But I want it so badly. Even if the entire world is broken at the seams, I would give anything to go back and change the course of that August.

She's notably flabbergasted and I can tell she doesn't know how to respond. I'm insane; I'm an insane jerk who she now knows she should have never trusted with her deepest secrets, not in a thousand years. Oh, what have I done? "Shintaro…I don't think that…"

"Please!" I beg, "It will make Seto, Kano, and Kido happy too! I promise you that it will!"

"Even if…"

"You have to! I need you to!" My desperation is thicker then my jacket and would obviously keep me far warmer once winter rolls around. I'm no longer stable. I was just starting to reach solid ground, and now the ocean has whipped me away from land once more. I'm torn back into the past, and my longing for Ayano and that time of hidden happiness is returning. Mary has the power to grant a wish that I've held in my heart for far too long, how could I not be desperate?

"Why?" she asks.

"I can save Ayano, Mary, then you would be able to meet her, and she could take her rightful place as Danchou! You know that Kido hates the responsibility anyway, she really just wants her Onee-chan back!"

"R…really? Well…"

"Things would be better with her in your life. I guarantee it. None of them would die if she were around." I say. Mary looks startled, I've struck a cord, I've peaked her interest. "Do think that she would watch as her little siblings died? Not a chance…she would save them no matter what it took!"

"But you said you would…You promised!" she whimpers. I'm scaring her. She's afraid of my babbling…Huh…how bout' that.

"Yeah, yeah, I'd do my best, but you and I both know that I'm nothing more than a coward, she isn't though! You need her! If you want to save them, you need her!"

"What if…what if I did rewind two years back, but then something changes and I never even get to become a part of the Mekakushi Dan?" she asks.

"Ah! That's the good part! Nothing will change too drastically, because all you'll have to do is make sure that you and I keep all our memories! You don't have to let any of the others know that time was every rewound, they'll simply be as they were two years ago, and they never even have to know that there was ever a world where their Onee-chan killed herself, they'll be happier! You and I will still get to become members of the Mekakushi Dan, and we'll meet again in a far better world." Yes, the future is bright. Things will be perfect. Wonderful. Just wonderful. All the pain I've felt now seems to have been for nothing. I've been foolish; I should have known that life isn't really as cruel as I've made it out to be. In the end, things really do always work out for the best, don't they?

"You think?" Mary asks.

"I know," I confidently tell her.

She nervously bites her bottom lip. "Then…if I do this, will you do me a favor?"

"Of course," I say. I can't believe this! Score! She's going to do it! She's really going to do it! I'll do her any favor in the world! If she wants me to find and capture a mystical unicorn, then she'd better start figuring out how to use its magic to make world peace, because I will get her that unicorn even if it's the last thing I do! Given that I'd have to save Ayano's life before devoting mine to unicorn hunting.

"Then, once I rewind time, promise me that you'll make sure that Seto goes to my house in the woods and knocks on my door. I don't want the way we meet to change…" she whispers.

"Then, it's a promise, I promise." I smile at her, feeling like she's my new favorite person on planet Earth. She truly is.

"Okay," she says, "Thank you."

"No, thank you. Thank you…so much." I'm certain that I must seem a bit out of character to her, saying such things and all, but extreme joy and a newfound hope for the future can do such a thing to a person.

"Alright then…Here goes nothing?" Her eyes flash bright red. "See you later!"

"Yeah, see you," I say, before my world becomes her eyes. Everything turns a sudden shade of red, and I can't deny that it reminds me a bit of a certain person's scarf.

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**By the way, I forgot to mention last chapter that Shintaro doesn't have an eye ability yet in this fanfiction. **

**Thank you guys for all of the follows from last chapter, and thank you guys for reading this one! Reviews are what keep me writing though, so please send some more my way, because it was a little disappointing to only get one last chapter…Oops now I probably sound really whiny, sorry! Reviews just make me exceedingly happy so…Please review!**


	3. Unbind

_Shintaro is not a liar. He'll come for me, but when? Perhaps I'm just being impatient…Maybe I just really miss Seto, or maybe my excitement for finally meeting the original Danchou of the Mekakushi Dan is making me get ahead of myself. Why then…do I feel like I've been waiting for nearly a year?_

* * *

The red blurring my vision takes a while to dissipate, and I feel a strong sense of excitement carrying me away. I hop out of bed with a body that feels ten years younger, rather than just two. My room looks almost the same, given that my current computer isn't quite as fancy as the one I will have in the future.

I feel like rushing. I probably have all the time in the world, but yet I don't think I've ever felt quite this anxiety ridden. I want to see Ayano.

I've always slept in my clothes, but I'm certain that my hair must be a mess, and though I want to at least look decent in front of Ayano, I don't bother to fix it.

I open the door to the main hallway of my house and I find Momo sitting at the kitchen table alone eating a breakfast consisting of a bowl of warm Miso soup. I wonder where my mom is, but then I realize that she must have already gone to work. Momo glances away from her soup to look at me for a brief second. "Grab a bowl, there's still some left." She's small, and even though I've thus far been able to completely grasp this odd situation that I am in, it's still hard to believe that she's only fourteen again. I find myself wanting to give her a hug. I've walked back into the past, the past where my younger sister hasn't yet lost nearly all respect for her older brother. How wonderful.

"No thanks, I'm in a bit of a rush," I tell her, as I throw my red jacket onto my shoulders.

"Why's that?" she asks, sipping loudly on her soup.

"There's someone I have to see…"

"Do you have a date?" she asks, grinning at me.

A date…I've never been on one. I figured I would eventually, but after Ayano's death nothing like that mattered anymore, and with being a NEET and all I didn't come in contact with very many pretty girls, unless you count the pictures on my computer…

"No," I answer, "It's just a friend."

"Who?" she asks me.

I need to go. This is a pointless conversation and I should just walk out right now. Yet, I find it hard since Momo is acting so very friendly and warm. Our relationship is obviously better than it's ever been, or rather, than it ever will be.

"Ayano," I say.

"Oh, her, have fun." Momo has met Ayano once or twice, since Ayano came here to work on that pesky science project with me. The two seemed to hit it off pretty well, though I didn't let them talk too much since the last thing I needed was them conspiring against me.

"Alright, see you later," I say with a small smile framing my face.

She smiles back at me, "Kay, see you."

I walk out the door, and then before I know it I break out running.

The weather is nice, and it's obviously summertime. This means that Ayano must be trapped behind a desk, struggling to make up for a year of inadequacy.

My high school seems closer now than I remember it being, but then again I haven't been there in a very long time.

Once I reach the building, I quickly throw the door open. I don't know which classroom she should be in, but I do know where I _don't _want her to be, so that's where I go.

A teacher glares at me, and opens his mouth to lecture me for running in the halls, but I'm past him in a second. I find myself climbing the staircase that I've so often dreamt to be endless, but upon reaching the top I feel a sense of relief, as it confirms that this isn't all just a dream far too good to be true.

What would I do if Mary had mistakenly rewound back to someday near the end of the year, long past August fifteenth? Well, I assume that I'd die.

What would I do if Mary had mistakenly rewound back to the exact morning of August fifteenth? Ah…It seems that I'm about to find out…

Ayano is on the roof with me. She's standing close to the edge as her mind silently flicks through her options.

I want to scream. I want to yell her name and tell her to stop, but I find that I am frozen. With this type of terrible coincidence, surely I'm trapped in a nightmare. But, no, I've already confirmed that I'm not, so then this is real. Please. Stop. Why does it always have to be like this? Is this sort of fate unavoidable? Is that why Mary is forced to watch the ones she loves die time and time again? Am I doomed to suffer that same fate?

Life is something that I hate very much. I do not know the reason why such a tragic thing exists. If it's destined to end, then why did it ever even begin?

I want to give up. I'll cry. I'll go through the motions of mourning her. I'll become a NEET again, and this time I'll stay in my room for the rest of my life. Takane will have to fend for herself, because I will not open any attachments onto my computer. That way, I'll never spill soda on my keyboard. I'll never be forced into leaving my room. I'll never meet the Mekakushi Dan and I'll never have to face the reality outside my door. Unreality can take me away, because…I'm just so very tired.

Why bother meeting the Mekakushi Dan and coming to care about even more people that are destined to die in the end anyway?

My watering eyes flash up to stare at Ayano's back just once more, and I am thawed.

I find myself running again. My legs fly out and my speed increases with every bound. Ayano takes a deep breath. I know that she should be able to hear the heavy thud of my feet, but she seems too engrossed in her current actions to understand what the noise means. So, I just keep running.

In a single moment Ayano Tateyama, only sixteen years old, steps onto thin air and finds herself falling to her death. I'm at the edge of the roof in a second. My skinny arm shoots out towards her and my fingers curl around something. My faith is restored in this world.

I smile as I begin trying to pull her up. It all worked out in the end, didn't it? I was able to save her. It will be alright.

The pads of my fingers become acutely aware that the fabric they are clutching is very soft. My eyes become acutely aware that the fabric they are clutching is red. And my heart becomes acutely aware that everything is, in fact, never going to be alright ever again.

I'm holding onto Ayano's scarf, and she is chocking. A moment more and she will be dead. Somehow, I, her wannabe knight in shining armor am turning into her executioner, and her favorite accessory is quickly becoming her noose.

My ears are ringing. My heart is pounding. It's over. Give it up Shintaro. If only you had left the house sooner…If only…If only.

The date is August fifteenth. Today is the ninth anniversary of my father's death, and apparently Momo's as well…but yet Momo is alive. This is also the same date that Kido and her sister died, but yet Kido is perfectly fine...So then, just as Kido said, if two people die on the fifteenth of August, one of them is allowed to live. If two people were to die today then one of them would receive an eye ability along with a second chance at life… all I have to do in order to have a fifty-fifty chance of saving Ayano is…

And with that thought in my head, I throw myself off of the roof of the school building.

I can't entirely say that falling to my eminent death is a very pleasant thing. I try to take in one last breath of fresh air and enjoy the moment, but for some reason it doesn't really work out very well and I just wind up screaming my head off instead.

Ayano is screaming too, which makes me feel a bit better. I'd always imagined myself dying alone…So at least…This much is okay. Perhaps I can die fairly happy if it's like this. As long as Ayano keeps living, then I guess I won't regret dying.

I'll admit that I did want us to be together. Of course I wanted to be able to talk to her once more. I won't deny that I had already pictured us graduating from high school together and her asking me to join the Mekakushi Dan; but still, I'll take what I've been given. After all, life never works out perfectly. Those who want to live die, and those who want to die somehow wind up living. I hope that isn't the case for Ayano though. I hope that she's changed her mind now and that she wants to live.

Live on for me Ayano and, please…don't hate me for making you do so.

She hits the ground first. She's already gone…I can see blood coating her dark black uniform and blending in with the color of her scarf. I hate it.

It hurts to hit the Earth. It actually hurts more than anything I could ever have imagined, but then the pain is gone, quicker than it came.

I see black. I see teeth. As if it wasn't enough to die, I also have to suffer through being swallowed by this unknown creature.

The creature takes me to another world. This world is black as well, however there's a wooden door in front of me and I can see Ayano in the corner of my eye. Neither of us is breathing, we don't need to.

Momo and my father were once here as well. My father is probably still here, in another part of this world, hopefully a better part.

I have never experienced this degree of silence. There isn't a single noise. I might think that it's peaceful if it wasn't so dang eerie…

I know that whatever I say here will be forgotten once she leaves this place, but even still, I'll say it. "Ayano," I whisper, cutting through the stillness, "I love you." I don't know where those words came from. I haven't a clue. Are they even true? Probably.

"Shintaro…why?" she asks, stunned.

"I…um…lived in a world without you for two years, and I realized that," I say, picking up from where I was before she interrupted me. Cheesiness has never been my forte, but if nothing I say here will be remembered for more than five minutes, then what does it matter?

"Why?" she asks again.

"I just want you to live," I tell her.

"But…" she mumbles. "I don't understand…Why is this happening? Only I am supposed to die…then I'm supposed to leave with an eye power like Kido, Kano, and Seto did…That's what father's research said…"

So that's it then. She wanted a power like her adopted siblings, was that really the whole reason? It couldn't be…Don't telling me that I'm dying to save such a stupid girl with such stupid reasons for killing herself…

"I only wanted to save Takane and Haruka! I never meant to get you wrapped up in this, Shintaro!"

Oh, well that reason is much more understandable. She must know that her father is about to hurt Takane. I feel happier than ever before. Not only am I about to save Ayano, but in the process perhaps she'll be able to save Takane and Haruka as well…Maybe Takane will never have to live in someone's computer…Maybe her and Haruka can be happy and stay together instead.

"It's alright," I say, "Just hurry up and leave now, before it's too late."

That door…I know that only one of us will be able to walk through it, and I know that, that person has got to be her. I didn't come this far just to leave without her.

"You…you'll come too, right?" she asks, still unable to grasp the situation. Of course she can't, without prior knowledge she must be so confused…I almost feel sorry for her.

I nod my head and smile, "Of course I will," I tell her.

She smiles back at me, "Then…" She slowly begins to walk closer to me. "Then, I'll just say one more thing before we leave, I love you too." She's smiling as she wraps her arms around me. We embrace and I pray that it will last forever, but it doesn't. Her arms drop to her side once more and then she walks towards the beckoning door.

My smile grows as I watch her. This is alright. Things are just fine like this. She'll live on and remember me fondly. She'll rescue Takane and Haruka, and the three of them will graduate from high school and then later she'll ask them to join the Mekakushi Dan. It will be great like this. Perfect.

A single tear rolls down Ayano's cheek before she turns her back and throws the door to the outside world wide open.

I stay frozen in place. There's no reason for me to move. I can't follow her. I gulp down tears, and fall on the ground sobbing as the door slams closed. It's over. That was the last time I'll ever see her…That was the last time I'll ever feel alive.

The sound of my own tears reminds me of something, a promise. A promise to Mary that I now can't keep. Even now, in the end after I've done such a wonderful thing it's still somehow being clouded by yet another mistake in my life…Crap.

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**Thank you for reading this! Feedback for this chapter is very important to me, so please, please review! **


	4. Enshrined

**Warning: This chapter will contain spoilers for the fifth novel. **

**I just finished reading all the chapters that have been translated into English so far, and by doing so I found out a lot of things and was forced to rewrite this chapter and the chapter after this one even though I was almost completely done with both of them…Such a pain. Though, the fifth novel is freaking awesome. **

**Side Note: It's unbearably annoying to call Kano, Shuuya, but thus is Ayano's way…**

* * *

"Nee-chan!"

My head is throbbing. It feels like my skull is slowly closing in on my brain in an attempt to squeeze it out through my ear canals. Everything hurts.

My vision is a blurry mess, but luckily it's clearing little by little. Eventually I can see enough to make out the figure of a person bending down over me.

"Ah! Thank goodness! You're okay…" His voice is rushed, and it's more than obvious that he's hiding a very different emotion behind that smile of his, but either way Shuuya is here sitting next to me. He slowly pulls me into a hug; it's almost as though he's afraid I'm secretly made of porcelain and will crack at any moment.

"Shuuya," I whisper, as I struggle to sit up. "What are you doing here?"

"Well…you know, I was afraid that you were going to try to pull something like this…and I wanted to save you, but it seems someone else beat me to the punch, though," he answers.

"Shintaro…!" I yell, springing to my feet within a single second. "Where is he?" I ask, my eyes meeting my brother's.

"More importantly…" He's not answering my question! "You're eyes…do you know what color they are?" Who cares! Just please answer my question, Shuuya!

"I don't know, probably red or something, right?"

"Oh! So you do know!" He claps his hands once, "Well done!"

"Shuuya, where is Shintaro?" I repeat.

"You have something important to do, or have you forgotten?"

He's right. Takane and Haruka are counting on me…I don't have time to chat like this! But it's clear that Shuuya is hiding something from me, and I can't just walk away now!

"I know, but please tell me where he is," I beg.

"Nee-chan…I don't think that's the issue right now…I'll tell you soon, alright?"

"No! Tell me now!"

He noticeably flinches, before covering it up with a smile. "I have something to do right now. It's very important, so if you could just excuse me…And besides…You can't be mad at me, you're the one who just jumped off a roof. You almost died! I can't…I don't want you to ever do anything like that again! I mean…I…need you, so…and anyway, you promised that we would always be together, but it seems that you're even more of a liar than I am…" His voice is almost inaudible, but I hear him nonetheless, and I can understand him very well. He's right. Completely. I did a terrible thing, and even if I did it for a good reason, it was still a terrible thing to do. I really don't have the right to be mad at _him_, even if he is acting oh so suspicious.

"Okay…I'm sorry, Shuuya. But we will be having this conversation later," I say, as I begin to run off as fast as my legs will allow.

"Alright, Nee-chan! Please…don't do anything dangerous!" he calls to me.

I've wasted too much time already. I have to make up for it with pure speed. Every moment counts now. There's a snake inside me, that's something I know. An ability of some sort will soon manifest itself. It'd better be a helpful one!

All the research hidden within my father's safe told me what I had to do on this day in order to rescue my very important friends and to protect my family. It told me I must kill. Myself, that is.

This morning I dressed myself for school, as always. I tried to make myself look presentable, though I don't know why I bothered. I went to supplementary classes, though I learned nothing, and I remember even less. After doing all that I unexpectedly ran into Takane in the halls and we chatted for a bit. The things she said…The things I said, they weren't increasingly important but I knew that they would come to have lasting significance. She had told me that Haruka was once again in the hospital, she was just grabbing his things for him. Yes, her words seemed to scream for me to hurry. Hurry and climb the stairs to the roof. Hurry and jump off. You have to, Ayano.

I ran up the stairs, because I knew that if I didn't I would wind up running back down them. My heart was in my throat and my soul was slowly escaping my body. I had stood near the edge of the roof for a year. I had stood there and tried to justify my actions, I had to convince myself that I was doing a good thing, the right thing. I had to convince myself that I was doing something that I _could _do. I had jumped off the roof. My scarf had gotten caught, in Shintaro's hand. Yes, it was then that I was hung by my own scarf. It was an embarrassing and clumsy way to die. Not to mention extremely painful and quick. Luckily, this lasted no more than half a second. At that time I was let go. Just as my legs had started to twitch and my life had started to end, I was released and all at once I felt very relieved.

I can remember thinking that I would live after all. I hadn't been hung, so I would live. If only. Of course, I was already too far along on the course to die to ever have a hope of stopping. The ground was beckoning to me and I knew that it would surely twist my body into a pretzel of splintered bones.

I'll admit that I was scared of dying. I was worried that my plan wouldn't work, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep living if I didn't even try. I had to try to save _someone's_ future, even if it meant risking mine. Protecting everyone from the snake within my father is my _responsibility_, and I had to carry through with my plan despite the overlying dangers. I just had to…

My feet are loud and clumsy as I tear through the halls on a cheery summer day. I head towards the hall where I spoke to Takane earlier today. I know that her classroom is somewhere in that area…Which one is it though?

As my feet slow to a walking pace so that I can peek into each classroom I walk by, I find that they are all empty. Of course, classes ended and even the most diehard teachers have already left. I wonder why the door to the school was still unlocked then…

I continue to walk forward, until I trip. I try with all my might to get back to my feet, I am in a rush, after all, but my body is stuck. I can't move a single muscle. What's wrong with me? I didn't trip…there wasn't anything to trip on. What's going on!?

The sound of thudding footsteps approaches and it strains my body's last bit of strength to look up and see who is coming towards me. I expect to see Takane, but instead all I see are bright glasses glinting with a reflection of the sun. It's my father.

He's standing far away, and he's holding something in his hands. He keeps fiddling around with it, so his eyes haven't met mine for even a second. My heart breaks with confusion. Everything hurts. Surely I'm not…

My father takes a step closer to me, and through my dizzy vision that slowly swirls and shakes as if blurred by a heat haze, I can finally make out the shape of some sort of mask. That's odd…Why does my father have a mask in his hands? He slips his glasses off and puts them into his pocket, so that he can slide the mask onto his face. With the mask on he finally dares to make his way to my side. He says nothing. And as his eyes glimmer red through the thick gasmask I realize all at once that the man next to me is nothing more than a snake. My father is not here right now…Not at all.

I was not the person this monster was expecting. I was not the one destined to be caught in his trap. The snake never meant to hurt his host's daughter, but now he has and it's too late to take it back.

Running. I can hear running. Light footsteps that move with grace. "Takane!" I yell, "Leave! He'll hurt you!"

I can't see her face. I can hardly understand what is happening around me anymore. I know what the clearing-eyes snake meant to do to Takane, and I know that I've become the victim of his plans instead. That must be why I feel like this. That must be why I can't move and I why I may never move again.

My father's body is no longer by my side. He was there one second and gone the next. Takane's elongated shadow has disappeared as well. I'm alone now.

I'm not a cat with nine lives. I can't escape death's web anymore. I hope that Takane is running…with all her might. No matter what happens, if she runs then…It doesn't matter. But yet it does. But yet I feel terrible inside. The pain in my heart is far worse than the excruciating pain my body feels. I told Shuuya I wouldn't do anything dangerous…and I did tell him we'd always be together, so then, I am a compulsive liar. I wonder if he'll hate me…Then again, no one would be able to blame him…

I still haven't a clue what ability I received from dying the first time…In the end, it didn't help me a single bit. How useless everything was. I had such grand plans…In the end I can't save anyone. Even Takane will probably die too. Everything, it's all my fault.

My eyes close to a single thought. A single word. A single name.

_Shintaro._

_Ah, Shuuya…You never told me where he went…_

* * *

**Hello again! Sorry about this chapter…it's kind of like a patchwork quilt…I took pieces of what I had written before I had to rewrite this and I just kind of threw them in, so it's not really my best…I hope it's acceptable though. **

**I know that Takane is injected with poison and not exposed to poisonous gas, but the twist was necessary so…**

**Also, don't worry about Ayano. She still has a trick up her sleeve. **

**Thanks for reading and please review! You're support and feedback so far has been fantastic, you guys are the bomb!**


	5. Resigned

As much as I want to follow my sister, as much as I want to protect her, watch her and make sure that she doesn't do anything else that could destroy our family, I can't. I have something that I have to do, and if I don't do it then my sister will die, along with Kido and Seto. I can't let that happen.

That's why I have to submit to my fate. My fate of living within the palm of the snake's hand.

Slowly I lay down on the hot asphalt surrounding my sister's school. The sun beats down on me, and the feeling is stifling. My hair seems to be black, and is slowly being coated in a sticky red blood bath. My body has been twisted into an odd position, and I'm fairly certain that arms don't naturally bend this way. My eyes are closed, and will remain closed for hours. Of course though, even if it looks like my eyes are closed, I can still see.

Lying here like this is so uncomfortable. I wonder…how long will have to play dead?

Ugh. I'll just have to lie here and wait until someone stumbles upon me and starts screaming their head off. This is the worst.

Of course, I guess it's still preferable to having to have _that _conversation with my sister. _"Where's Shintaro, Shuuya?" _

"_Ah…Well, he's dead. I just finished pretending to be his corpse…" _

No I DO NOT want to have _that _conversation.

Even though I really didn't ever like that guy, I have to say I'm impressed, and terribly depressed. After that guy finally goes and proves that he's a decent human being, he dies…Well, I guess in a way his dying was the actual proof that he was a good person, so maybe it was necessary.

Still though, to think that my sister would try to kill herself! I can't…Unfathomable. All because of that Shintaro is dead and now my sister is going to get even more depressed! At least she's alive. If it weren't for him she wouldn't be. I could never have done what he did…But that couldn't possibly mean that he cared for my sister even more than I do…? No way.

I woke up earlier today than I normally do. I couldn't sleep…I was worried about something; well actually I was worried about how worried my sister was. I wanted to help ease her anxiety, but couldn't figure out how, so I lost sleep over it. I heard the front door to our house slam shut, and it sprung me into action. I didn't bother with getting dressed or anything, I left the house in my pajamas, which I made look like my regular getup so no one would know the difference.

I followed my sister to school. Though that sounds creepy, it isn't. A brother's job is to protect his sister. Anyway, she went to class, I got really bored. I started walking around outside and then the bell for the school day to be over ringed. My sister didn't leave the building. I waited and waited, but she was nowhere to be found. I ran inside and tore the place apart looking for her, until I went up to the roof. By the time I got up there, Shintaro was already running towards her. Then they both jumped and the snake told me I'd have to go be a cadaver.

So, here I am. Baking in the hot sun while dressed up like my sister's dead hero.

I can see someone turn the corner of the school building. They're heading my way, and within just a few short moments they'll find my body and I'll be half-way done with this charade. As they approach I lift my head a bit to see them better, though of course I make sure that no one can tell that I'm actually alive and moving. A teenage girl enters my field of vision. She looks a bit older than my sister, and she also seems very familiar. My mind races as I try to think of her name…I know it starts with a T…

The T girl is my sister's friend, though she is a year ahead of my sister. I've met her twice, once as myself when I went to her classroom to watch Kido play her shooting game at the school festival, and also when I went to school as my sister…

Her name finally comes to mind. Takane, that's it. Takane seemed like a nice person, a bit snarky, and whiny, but nice.

She's out of breath right now as she buckles to her knees and leans against the wall. She closes her eyes and tries to calm herself down. She hasn't seen me yet. After a brief second her eyes slowly flicker open. Her hands are over her mouth within seconds, suppressing an inevitable scream. She army crawls closer to me, until I can feel her warm breath on the side of my neck.

"Shintaro…" she whispers, brushing hair off my face. Her hand spiders down towards the back of my head and when she pulls it away, it's caked in sticky blood. Her breaths come out uneven again; it seems that she's unable to calm down after seeing me…no, after seeing _him _like this_. _

Her short breaths are followed by rolling tears and soon her cheeks are wet and shiny. Her hands shake as she grabs my ice cold wrist and presses her fingers against my skin. "No…" she mouths, but no sound escapes from her lips, "Wake up…"

Her head whips around to look behind her, and she takes a deep breath before rising to her feet once more. Someone is running towards us, I can hear them.

She moves her feet, and tries to run. She wants to get away from whoever is following her, but yet she can't take her eyes off of me. "Did…he do this to you?" she asks, as if she expects a lifeless corpse to respond to her questioning.

She looks torn; her eyes are filled with a mix of fear and sadness. She's frozen in place by all her strong emotions. "How could he!" she yells, stamping her foot with fury, "I'll kill him!"

For the first time I find myself wondering who the heck she's talking about.

She smacks her forehead with the palm of her right hand. "Ayano…" she whispers, "I can't let this happen to you too…"

Oh no. What is she talking about? Is my sister in danger? Is my sister going to die? _Again!?_

My father is on her as soon as he turns the corner to get to this side of the school's brick wall. His red eyes tell me that the snake is in control, the very same snake that ordered me to play dead.

Takane tries to pull away, but the snake grabs her skinny wrists and forces her to stay still. She kicks at the calves of his legs, but it's no use. He's already got a long skinny needle in his hand, filled up to the brim with who knows what.

This is bad. Really bad. I can't move…but I can't stay still and just watch this! I jump to my feet, risking everything in the world to pull her away from him. I finally manage to get his hands off of her wrists, and in the process the needle get knocked to the ground and cracks with a loud thud on the hard cement. Slowly but surely the mysterious liquid drips out of the chinks in the glass.

I grab her hand in mine and we run.

"Shintaro…you're alive!" she shouts, wiping away her tears with her free hand.

Oops. I completely forgot that I still look like a bloodied up version of a dead guy. I instantly feel pretty bad about this emotional roller coaster I've taken this girl, Takane, on.

"No," I say, "I'm not."

"Yes you are! And…you saved me…thank you."

"No! I'm not really Shintaro…he's actually dead…" I whisper.

She stops running. "What do you mean…who are you, then?"

Slowly she lets go of my hand, and the space between us seems to expand by a mile. "Well…You see…" I give up with words. Words aren't the way to go in this type of situation. No, instead I punch myself in the cheek. Oww. With pain surging through me, I know that I must look like myself again. I'm still in my pajamas too… "I'm Ayano's younger brother, Kano, nice to meet you." I stick out my hand, she doesn't shake it.

"But…Shintaro?"

"Like I tol…"

"No…what's going on? How did you do that? How did you look so much like him just now?" she gapes.

"Ah, well…" I'm not supposed to let outsiders know about my powers, but at this point is really is too late. "I can look like whatever I want, don't ask how, it's far to complicated, I just simply can."

"So…then, he's really dead?"

I slowly nod my head. "Sorry," I mutter. It occurs to me that there's someone I need to ask about as well. "Where's Ayano?" I ask her.

Her eyes hardly dare to meet mine. That isn't a good sign…

"Tateyama-sensei put some sort of poisonous gas in the hallway of the school…she ran into it and…I don't know if she's okay anymore…"

"But! Of course she is!" I run. My legs carry me back to the school. I don't know how I get there so quickly. I don't know why, but I'm not even out of breath.

My father's body is still standing against the brick wall. "I still can't have him looking like a missing person…so if you want your little family to survive I suggest that you do what I asked," he mumbles, his neck bending up towards the sky.

"Not now!" I yell.

"Ah? What's that? If you're useless…then I might as well just kill you, right?" He pushes up his glasses as he grins at ever so slightly.

"But…my sister!" I shout, "You hurt her! I was obeying you and you still hurt her!"

"That was just an accident. An unfortunate one, yes, but I'm afraid that it really is already too late…so if you care even a fraction about the remaining members of your family then…"

He's lying. He has to be. My sister wouldn't…die.

Of course I care about Seto and Kido. Of course I do…but even still, I ignore his warning and run into the school building. "Nee-chan!" I scream. I can see her body down the hall. An odd odor surrounds me. This hallway is still a death trap. If I go any further in, I'll die. This is pointless. I can't save her. I can't save anyone.

I dig my hand into my pocket, pull out my cell phone, and, with only one option left, I dial 1-1-9.*

The next ten minutes are a blur. I don't what to do with myself, so I simply sit on the dirty ground and stare longingly at my sister's limp body. I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I wipe away tears to see who it belongs to. "I'll tell the paramedics what happened; just go do what I asked you to. Now."

I know that I can't trust a single word he tells me. I know that…but yet, I can't keep this up any longer. I know that if I continue to ignore him he really will kill Kido and Seto. Besides, it's probably already too late. I'm only holding on to delusional hope, and I know that within the hour it will all be dashed away. I was too late. My sister is dead.

Numbly I walk outside and once more I lay down on the hot cement and become a corpse. Through my mask of deception, I sob. No one can see my tears, but still, they fall.

* * *

*_Japan's emergency contact number is 1-1-9._

**Thanks for reading this chapter! I hope that you enjoyed it! It was actually a pretty fun one to write and it turned out totally different than I had anticipated. Anyway, your support is what keeps me writing, so please review! **


	6. Remind

**In response to Just a Guest: Sigh, your review on chapter two was right…I totally forgot that Seto actually goes to Mary's house as a kid…Oh well, too late to change that, but will you forgive me? Haha, I know you will. Anyway, thank you for all your kind reviews.**

* * *

"Nee-chan!"

I can feel warm hands on my ice cold skin. Absentmindedly, I pull my arm away from the hands. I find it hard to open my eyes, and for a moment I wonder if I've gone blind. There are lights all around me, brighter than the sun. They make me want to vomit, though I haven't eaten anything all day.

I wonder where I am…

The hand places itself back on my arm, it's insistent. "Shuuya?" I ask.

"Nee-chan!" my brother beams, shaking my arm with his outstretched hand. My vision is still white and blurry, but little by little I start being able to make out my surroundings. Three people encircle me with their bodies; they're all standing around the bed I'm lying on.

I'm in pain, to say the least, but I am alive. I never expected to wake up again…and yet, here I am with my family smiling down on me. I feel gentle tears cascade down my cheek and Kousuke grabs my hand and squeezes it in his own. "How do you feel?" Tsubomi asks me, her cheeks are red and her eyes puffy. I feel a quick stab of guilt. I made her cry…I made them all cry…

I take a deep breath, even though it pains me to do so. "Alright," I answer.

"Good!" Kousuke says, grinning, "I was so worried! The doctors said you breathed in enough toxic gas to kill an elephant!"

"Really?" I ask, tilting my head, "Did I?"

"So…how does it feel to be immortal?" Shuuya mutters, taking his small hand off my arm.

I laugh and slowly brush hair out of my face, "I wouldn't go that far…"

"I would," he replies. He's dead serious. The tone of his voice has lost its regular, cocky, joking feel, and now I can tell that he's serious.

"Wha…"

"How else would you still be alive? Obviously…your new eye ability is immortality," he continues.

That's an odd thing to say. Where does he get off jumping to crazy conclusions like that?

"Eye ability?" Tsubomi asks, glaring at Shuuya.

"Whoa!" Kousuke gapes, leaning his body over my bed so that he's face to face with me. "Your eyes are red now like ours, Onee-chan!"

I try to calm down. I will my eyes to go back to brown, but even after all that I still have a feeling they're bright red. "Oh…" is all I can manage to say in reply.

"So then…you did die…didn't you? Just like all of us…but since it's August fifteenth you got an eye ability instead of dying permanently…" Tsubomi concludes.

I nod my head frantically. I watch Shuuya's mouth and make sure that he doesn't try to open it. Tsubomi and Kousuke don't know that I jumped off of the roof of the school. They don't know that I killed myself…and I don't want them to ever find out.

"Then I wonder what your eye ability really is…" Tsubomi whispers, her mind beginning to wander.

"It's immortality!" Shuuya shouts.

"Doubt it, idiot," Tsubomi mutters, knocking her fists against Shuuya's head.

"Who poisoned you, Onee-chan?" Kousuke asks me.

Shuuya's eyes grow wide and he sets his hand on my shoulder. "No one did on purpose!" he shouts, "A science teacher brought the gas in for an experiment but he broke the container it was in! It was awful!" What is he saying? Don't Tsubomi and Kousuke deserve to finally learn the truth? The truth, that our father has been possessed by a snake far more evil than the ones within them?

"Really? What kind of stupid teacher would bring poison gas into a school?" Tsubomi asks.

"A…really stupid one…" I mutter. Shuuya must have his reasons for lying, he always does.

Shuuya smiles at me, with a look of brief gratitude crossing over his face. "Shuuya…" I whisper, "Isn't it about time that you told me where Shintaro is?"

"Is it?" he asks, checking a non-existent watch.

"Yeah…Tsubomi, Kousuke….Shuuya and I have to talk about something real quick, but he's too embarrassed to talk about it in front of you, so would you mind?"

Tsubomi rolls her eyes at Shuuya, while laughing a little to herself. "Fine," she says, leaving my hospital room. Kousuke waves at me ever so slightly, before following her out into the hall.

"What the heck?" Shuuya asks, "Why'd you have to say something like that…Now Kido is going to pester me all day!"

"Sorry," I say, giggling.

He frowns and takes a seat in a plush leather chair that was placed about a meter away from my bed. "Shintaro…" he whispers, "He's umm…gone."

"Gone where!?" I yell, my voice coming out much louder than I had anticipated.

He gives me a look of pity that says it all. _"You know where," _his face seems to say. _"You know that he died." _

"But! Why? Why did he jump off the roof? Why didn't he come back with an eye ability like me!?" I wail, tears drowning my cheeks and snot rolling out my nose. I frantically try to wipe it all away, but it's futile, since the tears seem unstoppable.

"Nee-chan…You were going to die…If you had hit the cement alone…you wouldn't be here right now. In order to get an eye power like your immortality, you have to die on August fifteenth along with someone else, that's why Shintaro jumped off the roof…Somehow he knew that if he died too…Then you might get to live…I just…Don't know how he knew that though…" Shuuya mumbles, his words slurring together until they cease to make much sense to me.

"He died to save my life?" I ask.

Shuuya nods. I sob. And sob. And sob. Tsubomi and Kousuke run back into the room and frantically try to comfort me, but they fail miserably. Shuuya hangs his head down, but he doesn't bother to leave his leather chair and wrap his arms around me like the others are, he knows that it wouldn't help. I exhaust myself and cry until my body stops being seventy-percent water.

Somewhere through the crying I loose consciousness, that or I just simply fall asleep, for some reason it's hard to tell. As my mind drifts I wonder where that snake is. That snake that made me jump off the roof. That snake that tried to kill Takane and Haruka…That snake is the reason why Shintaro died. I frantically try to believe that, but even as I waft through my own lies I know that I'm actually the one responsible. Shintaro…is dead, and it's all my fault.

When I wake up again, I can hear yelling.

"Yeah well…Thank you for saving my life, but you're still a shady person!"

"Wait, how exactly did you save her life?"

"Oh…that…don't dwell on that, Kido…"

"He stopped…"

"Her from running into the poison! She almost wound up like Nee-chan! Man, that was a close one…right, Enomoto-chan?"

"What the heck are you talking about!? You didn't…"

It takes a moment for me to understand what these people are talking about, and frankly who the people talking are. "Takane…" I mumble as my eyes lazily flicker open.

"Ah! Ayano, you're awake," she whispers.

"How's Haruka?" I ask her.

The faint smile that was there only seconds before, is now gone. "Haru…ka?" she asks, acting as though the name is foreign to her. "Haruka…he…died."

No. That's not…Not…True. Haruka didn't die. I know that he didn't! He couldn't have died…Two people I care about…are dead now.

"His body was already gone when I got here…I don't know where it is…" Takane whispers, tears slowly trickling out of her eyes. "And Shintaro…"

I nod, "I know…"

"He killed himself…how could he?" she asks. The tears sting my eyes and blur my vision. I thought I was done crying. I guess not.

"He didn't kill himself…He was trying to stop me from doing something stupid…and he fell…" Like Shuuya, I must lie to protect others. Lying is a language all its own, and I'm starting to speak it fluently.

"What were you going to do?" she asks.

"I don't know anymore…" I whisper. I sigh and the two of us stare at each other as somber silence envelopes our depression. She knows not to ask anymore questions. She knows that I'm too worn out to think of convincing lies to answer them with.

Takane turns her attention back to Shuuya. "Wh…" She wants to say something to him, but then decides against it. She shakes her head and walks out of the room.

"Onee-chan…it's alright…we still have each other…" Kousuke whispers, trying to cheer me up.

I nod my head, "Yeah…I know." At least that much is true.

The gentle buzz of machinery seems amplified as the sound of our voices die down to whispers. Then, we stop talking and someone switches on the television.

On it is a girl, much more familiar than most idols. I've actually met that girl once, and I've seen posters of her and music videos featuring her more times than I can count. A woman with heavy wrinkles under her eyes and a hair style that makes her face look far too round, replaces the image of the girl and slowly that woman's face fills up the television screen. "The country mourns with Kisaragi Momo," the woman announces.

Of course, the brother of the most popular idol in all of Japan just killed himself. How could I expect it to **not **be on the news? They certainly work fast when it comes to picking up the latest about Momo-chan…

My heart hurts again. The guilt returns once more. It's all my fault, all my fault that the country _has_ to mourn with Kisaragi Momo. I stole her brother from her.

* * *

**Hello! Sorry this chapter is a little short…I had a super hard time writing it, this is actually my fourth draft…Hehe, you should see the one I wrote before this one…It had Kano being framed by the clearing eyes snake and having to go to jail for the crime of poisoning Ayano…Aren't you glad I didn't post that one? It was kind of funny though…**

**Lately I've been thinking that this story needs more romance...I mean I marked it as a romance and everything, so I was thinking of maybe adding some KanoxMomo in it, but I know that there aren't very many people that ship that pairing, so I need to know whether that would make anyone angry or not. Please tell me in a review or PM if you hate this pairing and if me putting it in this story would in any way discourage you from reading, thanks. Also, if you don't tell me I'll just assume that you're an avid KanoxMomo shipper and would love for me to add it in...hehe.**

**Thank you guys for reading! Please review!**

**P.S. About Ayano's eye ability; basically I just gave her Ene's "Opening Eyes," but I didn't feel like making her a virtual person, so I simply made her immortal. **


	7. Unrefined

**This chapter…Well, I did my best but I'm pretty sure that it's still going to be very inaccurate when it comes to Japanese customs, so sorry about that.**

* * *

This is the saddest funeral ever. It's sad on so many levels.

My brother's body mysteriously disappeared after his death. His body was discovered by police, who were at his school for something completely unrelated to his death, something about toxic gas in the halls of the school, or something. After they found his body though…it just vanished the moment no one was looking. Though, they say they're positive he's dead. They took photographs of his corpse and everything. But now, I never get to even see his face again, and we're left with nothing but some photographs of him and some of his clothes to cremate, which is hardly a substitute for the real thing.

I do my best to sit still as the priest reads the sutra, but I can't resist the urge to look behind me at the guests. There aren't many of them, and that serves as another reason why this funeral is even more depressing than my father's.

My brother died at the young age of sixteen, he didn't ever get the chance to get married or have children, and to be blunt he didn't have many friends either. Our family is a small one, and three out of four of our grandparents are already deceased, along with our father. So, it's basically mom and me, along with a few of his friends from school, an aunt and uncle or two, and a few distant cousins that seem bored out of their minds.

Even though this ceremony is for my brother, and even though all eyes should be on the priest, everyone is looking at me instead. I know that I'm an idol, but I had expected everyone to have more tact than to make me the center of attention, it seems that I gave them all too much credit.

I make my way to the front of the altar to bow and offer incense. The other guests follow suit, until the very last person finishes.

The priest finally finishes reading the sutra, and we all bow as he leaves.

The rest of the funeral is a haze, as I suck down my emotions, and try not to sob my eyes out.

Once the funeral ends I make my way outside as quickly as possible. There's someone here that I need to talk to. "Momo, let's get in the car," my mother says, grabbing my wrist.

"Wait a minute," I reply. I know that we need to head to the crematorium now, but I really do need to talk to _that _person.

My mother shakes her head at me, and her sad tired eyes convince me to stop complaining and to just take a seat in her small convertible. We follow the hearse that contains my brother's casket, though of course his body isn't in the casket. His school uniform is though. I really wish that we could have used that red jacket he liked instead…but he was wearing that when he died, so it's gone too.

Our car is silent. It's just my mother and me inside, and neither of us says a word.

It's been three days since my brother's death, and my mother and I really haven't spoken much. The wake was yesterday, but even through that we didn't say anything to each other. I'm not entirely sure why, I guess that neither of us really knows what to say. We're both in a lot of pain, and though it probably isn't the best idea to bear our pain alone, that's exactly what we've been doing. I don't want to bother my mother with my grief when she's grieving so heavily herself…

Still though…I think it's time to talk about it…

"Mom…" I whisper.

She keeps her eyes on the road, but slowly they flicker my direction. "Yes?"

"Why do you think Onii-chan killed himself?" I ask her.

She flinches, but quickly regains her composure. "I really wish I knew the answer to that…"

"You don't think…" I can't finish my sentence, I don't know how. I don't even know what I had opened my mouth with the intention to say.

"What?" my mother asks.

I try to think of something to put on the end of my hanging sentence, but nothing comes to mind immediately. "That…" I trail off again. My mother doesn't push the subject any further.

We drive in absolute silence for a bit.

"I never knew that he hated life…" my mother finally whispers, "I did my best to be a good mom, I tried to make sure that he had everything that he needed…I went to work everyday and did my best to put food on our table…I thought that he was happy…or at the very least, content…But no, all this time he probably just looking for a chance to end it all…"

"It isn't your fault!" I shout, "You were a good…no, you _are _a great mother! I'm sure that Onii-chan loved you..."

"Then why, Momo?" she sobs, as the car pulls into the parking lot of the crematorium. She buries her face in her hands. "Then why did my little boy take his life away from us!?"

I can do nothing but stare at my mom's hands and allow my crying to fall into rhythm with hers. I don't know. I don't know anything, but I do intend to find out.

I step out of the car and mom wipes her eyes with a cloth and follows me into the building. Once inside we are permitted to watch the casket as it makes it slow journey into the crematorium.

"Come back at five o'clock," a middle aged woman tells us.

Once again we're back in the car. This time, we head towards our home. We both want nothing more than to sleep, I'm sure, but instead we've decided to serve some of the close guests who attended the funeral a meal.

My mom's sister and her family already have their car parked in front of our house when we get there. I let them inside and my mom hurries to the kitchen to start serving the food. One by one other guests begin to show up. I wait anxiously for _that _person's arrival.

Upon hearing a knock on the door I dash towards it and pull it open. Finally, it's the person I've been waiting for. Ayano Tateyama.

"Oh…hello, Ayano-chan," I say trying to act casual.

"Hello, Momo-chan," she replies, as I lead her, and another girl who seems to be her friend, to our dining room.

I find myself wondering who the other girl is, but I don't have to think about it long, since Ayano soon introduces her to me. "This Enomoto Takane," Ayano says, "She was a good friend of Shintaro."

They are both dressed in black dresses, as am I. This atmosphere is almost too somber to bear.

I bow my head ever so slightly, as my eyes meet up with Takane-chan's. "Nice to meet you," I whisper.

"Nice to meet you," she parrots back to me. "My condolences."

"Ah…thank you." I turn my attention back to Ayano. Now's the chance I've been waiting all day for! "Ayano-chan…did you happen to see my brother the day that he died?" I ask her.

She nods her head, "Yes, I did. How did you know?"

"When I spoke to Onii-chan that morning he told me that he was in a rush to go see you…" I answer.

"Really? Well I guess he would have been…"

"What do you mean?" I ask, "What did you talk about with him?"

She gives me a blank stare and grows silent for a moment. "Ah, sorry, we didn't actually get the chance to say anything to each other…"

"Oh…so then, I guess you don't know why Onii-chan committed suicide either…"

Takane-chan mutely stares at Ayano; she looks like she wants to say something. "Shintaro…didn't really kill himself," Ayano whispers.

"What do you mean?" I gasp, and the whole room full of people turns to look at me, even though the food is in the process of being served.

"On August fifteenth…I was actually the one who was going to commit suicide…your brother showed up that morning to stop me, but he was too late…I had already jumped off the roof of our school by the time he reached me. He did manage to grab my scarf though, but that left me hanging by my neck, so I was going to die anyway…So to save me, Shintaro jumped off the roof with me…"

"I don't understand…are you trying to be funny? Because this isn't the ti…"

"I'm not! Please, just listen," she whispers, "Momo-chan, have you ever almost died?" she asks me.

"Well…I almost drowned once…"

"And did someone drown with you?" she asks.

"My dad did."

"I thought that might be the case…since, your eyes are red."

"My eyes…no, they're black…"

"Not right now…"

"I don't understand what this has to do with anything!" I mumble. This is irritating, I always thought that Ayano was a kind person, but now I can see that she's not. To her this is exciting, maybe even funny. She couldn't care less that Onii-chan is dead; instead she just wants to lead me on some wild goose chase.

"You have the power to capture eyes…even now no one can take their eyes off you, I also have a power, I'm immortal."

"Ayano, you aren't making any sense, didn't you tell me that Shintaro fell off the roof when he was trying to stop you from doing something stupid?" Takane-chan asks.

"I know…but I told you that because the truth is so hard to understand, but I thought that maybe since Momo has _the eyes_, she would listen…"

"Eyes? What is all this about eyes?" I ask her.

"When two people die on the fifteenth of August one of them is allowed to keep living, but when they return back to the world of the living they are given a special power," Ayano replies.

"Wait, so then you're saying that Shintaro jumped off the roof because he knew that he could save your life and give you one of these _eye powers _if he died too?" Takane-chan questions, looking every bit as dubious as I feel.

Ayano nods her head, "Exactly. I'll show you the proof later, alright, Momo-chan?"

"…" I don't know how to respond to any of this, so I just nod. We eat in silence, finally putting our odd conversation to rest. I feel angry inside. Ayano was supposed to give me answers, but it seems I went to the wrong person. Ayano is a mentally unstable lunatic, to put it kindly.

Or, perhaps she thinks I'm a child. Maybe she feels that it's necessary to weave some impossible story where Onii-chan is a superhero in order to preserve my innocence, but I'm not a child, and I'm well aware that Onii-chan was never any sort of hero. He was selfish and moody, but I loved him anyway. I loved him, and now all I want to know is why he didn't love himself.

At five o'clock my mother and I drive back to the crematorium and are given the urn that contains the ashes of his clothing. Throughout the rest of the day my mind is heavy with mixed emotions and lies.

I make a mental note to avoid Ayano. I don't want to see her made-up proof. I don't want to hear anymore of her lies. I'll find someone who can actually help me, someone who can actually tell me why brother is dead.

* * *

**Yay! For some odd reason I've been looking forward to writing about Shintaro's funeral for awhile now, maybe I'm just morbid or something? Actually though, it was pretty fun to write from Momo's perspective, I know that she probably acted a little OOC, but I figure that she'd be an emotional wreck at this point and wouldn't be near as kind and sweet as she normally is. Plus, I mean, come on, Ayano does sound pretty psycho in this chapter…**

**Speaking of Momo, thank you guys for all the feedback on my question last chapter. Looks like you're generally pretty open to it, so I'll give it a shot and see if I can make Momo and Kano mesh well together at all...**

**Thank you for reading chapter seven of Rewind Route. Reviews are always welcome, so please leave one! **


	8. Assigned

I sigh as I lay down on the couch next to me. Two depressing days of dressing in black. Two funerals in a row.

Haruka…

Even thinking about yesterday makes me want to throw up. I cried so much I probably seemed like a fool…I was so noisy that I could have sworn even the priest paused to silence my wailing, though it's probably just my imagination.

Kano lifts my feet up and lowers them to the ground so that he can sit down next to me. This guy…He's still so shady!

"Sorry about your boyfriend, Enomoto-chan," he whispers.

"He wasn't my boyfriend," I grunt.

"Right…sorry," he mumbles.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you," I say.

"What?" he asks.

"Why were you posing as Shintaro's corpse? What happened to his real body?"

"You know…I'm not really sure about that…" he says, "Has Nee-chan told you about our eye powers yet?"

"Sort of, but she didn't make any sense…She tried telling Shintaro's sister about them at the funeral, she said something about if two people die on August fifteenth one gets superpowers…"

"Oh, yeah…That's basically it! Ayano killed herself on August fifteenth because she wanted to get an eye ability like mine so that she could stop our father, or the thing possessing our father, from killing you. Back then she didn't know that two people have to die together in order for one to get a power, but oddly enough Shintaro did, so he jumped off with her. His body was probably taken to the same place that gave all of us our powers…" Kano pulls an apple out of his hoodie and starts eating it. He chews with the amplitude of a herd of wild elephants looking for water.

"That's…odd, you know that you're making no sense, right?"

He shrugs, "Hey, at least I'm not lying to you."

"So then…your power, you can look like whoever you want?" I ask.

"I have to know what they look like, smell like, and sound like, but yeah," he answers.

"So…can you make yourself look like me?"

"Why? Do you want me to?"

I turn my eyes away from him and I can almost feel my cheeks reddening. "I…guess it'd be kind of cool…"

He leans closer to me and carefully grabs a wisp of my hair in his hand. Then, he starts sniffing it. "Alrighty," he says in a girly voice, my voice. I move my eyes back to his, but all that I can see are my own eyes. He uses my lips to grin. "Do I look sexy?"

"Shut up!" I yell, smacking his/my cheek.

He laughs and mere moments later he's himself again; blonde hair and annoying grin included. "If I feel pain then I automatically start looking like this again," he says, biting into his apple.

"Oh…"

I've been staying at this apartment or 'secret hideout' since August fifteenth. All of us have. Sure, I could go home, I have no obligation to stick around here, but to be honest I don't really want to be alone. Sure, I wouldn't be _entirely _alone if I went home, but I doubt that my grandmother misses me much, and I went there to get some my clothes and a toothbrush, so it's not like she thinks I'm dead or anything.

I have to say that another reason I'm here is that I'm worried about Ayano. She's taking everything even harder than me, since she blames herself for it all.

Though, it's actually all Tateyama-sensei's fault, or whatever is 'possessing him' as Kano said. While I wholly want him to rot in jail for the rest of his life, I've realized that's not going to happen. I've brought the subject matter up several times, and each time Kano has forced me to drop said subject matter. I'm not entirely sure why…but it seems to be that he's afraid, either of his father or of the fact that I might do something sporadic like go get Tateyama-sensei and drag him to jail by myself. It's also occurred to me that he might just love his father despite what a crappy/possessed person he is, and maybe Kano just doesn't want his dad to go to jail.

Either way, it's quite obviously a taboo issue within the walls of this here hideout, and though a fiery desire for revenge dances within my heart, I shall quench it…for now.

"Enomoto-chan?" Kano whispers.

"What?" I ask as I turn my head and stare into his cat eyes.

"Now that I've told you about our powers…I can't let you leave." He grins as he says this, so there's no way that it could be taken as a serious threat; instead it just makes me want to slap him again.

"Shut…"

"Enomoto-chan, I can not be silenced! For I have a very important question to ask you!"

"If it's going to come out of your mouth it isn't going to be important…" I mutter. Once again, he's pulled me out of a very serious thought session and into his land of idiocy.

He grins and shakes his head, allowing his light hair to sway underneath the cover his dark hood. "Enomoto Takane, how would you like to become member number four of the Mekakushi Dan?"

"Just hurry up and tell me what this 'Mekakushi Dan' is, Kano. I don't want to spend all day watching you eat apples…"

"Really? That's a surprise…" he whispers, setting his sticky, disgusting, half-eaten apple down on my thigh. Of course, I knock it onto the ground and knee him in the face. He doesn't seem to mind. He clears his throat as if he's making a grand announcement, and then, he finally gets to the point. "The Mekakushi Dan is our gang, Ayano is the founder. Once someone learns about the Mekakushi Dan they automatically have to join it…So I guess that my question earlier was actually more of a 'how does it feel to now be a member of the Mekakushi Dan?' Though honestly, the last thing our gang needs is someone like you…You're far too much like Kido for comfort…"

"Does this new position of mine come with any responsibilities?"

"Nope, just don't tell anyone about the Mekakushi Dan's existence and you'll be good!"

"Alright, I think I can handle that much."

"Great! Also, do you like shopping?" he asks me.

I shrug my shoulders, "Not especially…."

"Great!" he repeats, "Then would you mind going to the store later and picking up some ingredients for Kido to make curry with? Curry sounds great right now…"

I really hate this guy. However, he does have a certain 'air' about him that can make a person forget all their troubles and woes and simply focus on their intense yearning to murder him in his sleep…So I guess that's a positive…

"Not going to happen."

"Please Enomoto-chan!" he pauses as he leans over to pick his apple up off the ground, "We can't just let you stay at our hideout for free…Especially not when I've been having dreams lately about the loveliness of maids."

"Oh ho, you little perv…Don't you realize that butlers have a certain charm as well?" I ask, grinning despite how pissed off I currently am at him.

"I don't think they do…"

"Go buy the ingredients yourself," I mumble as I swing my legs off the couch and start to walk out of the room.

"Hold on! I don't have any moneeeeeyyyy!" he yells.

I glare at him, but to be completely honest, at that moment he looks a little…dare I say, cute? He must be using his powers somehow to make himself look more innocent than he actually is…I fall into his trap anyway. "Fine, if you come with me to the store and get all the ingredients I'll…" I sigh and turn my back on him, "Pay for them…"

"Yay! I always knew that you would make the perfect addition to the Mekakushi Dan, Enomoto-chan!"

"Call me Takane," I say as I walk out of the room.

I find myself in the kitchen. I hadn't intended to wind up here, but somehow in my scurry to get away from Kano I stopped paying attention to where I was going.

Ayano is sitting at the short, squatty dining table of theirs, and sipping on a mug of hot herbal tea. She sighs into her cup of tea, and I immediately realize that I've just stepped into a room where depression 101 guides are of utmost importance.

All at once my own depression hits me like a brick wall and the mysterious urge to grab my wallet and head to the store with Kano ASAP surges upon me.

I can't ignore Ayano's post-funeral sighs, though, so I quickly make myself some tea and then take a seat next to her. "Kousuke is going to get a job…" she whispers as her mouth curls around her steaming cup.

"Really? Well that will be helpful, right?" I ask. It's hard for me to attempt at being cheerful. I'm actually quite miserable myself, but if both of us wallow in self pity than this conversation is going to go nowhere fast.

She shakes her head so hysterically that she almost knocks her tea out of her hands. "No!" she shouts, "I mean…it's just that…it's not that, that won't be a great help and all, it's just that I can't let him. I'm the oldest, it's my job to look after them, so I just can't let Kousuke look after me, if anyone should get a job, I should."

"But what about school?"

"I'll have to dropout."

I cock my head to the side. She's got to be kidding me…I know that she did poorly at school, but still I never predicted this outcome…

"Are you sure? I don't think you should make a decision like this so hastily…"

"I'm positive, there's no other way. It doesn't matter anyway, my grades have also been terrible, and if Shintaro isn't by my side to help me, then they'll only get worse…"

Half of me wonders if her wanting to quit school and get a job isn't just based on that she's afraid that school will bring back too many bittersweet memories.

Bittersweet…memories…school. Ah, that seems to be quite the conundrum for me as well…

The police were unable to find out why there was toxic gas inside our school, and I'm sure that they won't be able to pin Tateyama-sensei to the crime, since he has somehow turned into an evil mastermind, after all. So, I'm forced to consider that if I go back to school it could wind up being just me and Tateyama-sensei in the science preparation room. But there's no way…right?

Ah! I have to get that guy arrested! But…Kano…Oh who cares about stinkin' Kano and his constant whininess whenever I talk to him about seeking my revenge!?

I don't know how to stop him, though. Even if I go to the police and tell them what he did, will they actually believe me?

For now, it doesn't matter. That's something that I'll just have talk to Kano about later. Crap…Thoughts like that present the distinct possibility that I just might be turning into a person who cares about stinkin' Kano…

Truth be told, he's got me all worried, probably for nothing, but still…The desperate look in his eyes whenever I start talking about his father is almost _scary. _I have a feeling that if I did something like have Tateyama-sensei arrested without consulting him first he would revoke my newly gained Mekakushi Dan membership.

"I can't go to school either…" I whisper.

"Why not?" Ayano asks; sounding a bit caught off guard.

"Your father will be there," I reply.

"Oh…I'm so sorry Takane, he's just got too much power for us to handle right now," she says, her voice growing hushed.

Huh. Maybe that's what frightens Kano…Tateyama-sensei's power, that is.

I nod my head and the two of us drift into the deepest recesses of our own minds, ending all conversation for a few brief minutes. When the conversation is finally picked up again, it's me who does the sweeping. "Ayano…I've meant to tell you this for awhile, but um…thank you for saving my life!" I shout in a manner far too fast for mere mortals ears to comprehend; I guess I'm lucky she's immortal.

She looks startled as she wipes at her mouth with the back of her hand. "Oh…I don't think you should thank me for that…Actually it was really all thanks to Shintaro that I was able to anyway…"

I shake my head and grab her hand in mine. I give it a light squeeze and slowly smile at her. "I know that you feel guilty for his death, but I just want you to know that even if everything didn't go according to plan, and even though it's terrible that Shintaro is gone, I'm just…eternally inedited to you…if it weren't for your little failure of a plan, I'd be dead too…And yeah, Shintaro would probably be alive, but he'd have three funerals to go to and I don't think he'd like that very much…"

"He'd only have two to go to if I wasn't such an idiot…" she mumbles.

I frown at her. "That's a little hurtful…So what then, you'd rather that you had never attempted your plan and that I was dead instead of Shintaro?"

"No! I didn't mean that! Please don't…"

"I'm just kidding; I know that isn't how you feel. Seriously though, Ayano, don't be so hard on yourself. Shintaro saved your life so that you can enjoy it, not spend the rest of it feeling guilty that he saved it," I whisper.

She nods, "I know…but…"

"Nothing," I say, "But nothing."

She smiles, "Alright…Takane, I'm glad that I was able to save your life too…If I hadn't…If I had to go to three funerals, I think I'd die too."

I grin and nod my head, "True that!" I lift my cup of hot tea into the sky, she mirrors my actions and a loud clink rings out through the kitchen as our cups strike each other.

* * *

**Part of me feels like the majority of this chapter has no place in this story, and part of me doesn't give a crap. This chapter was so much fun to write! I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, though you probably didn't since its kind of random…**

**The next chapter will be about grocery shopping! Yay! The chapter after that might be about grocery shopping as well, that or I'll write about what a **_**certain other person **_**is doing, and then wrap up the grocery shopping in the eleventh chapter. The chapter after that will probably be about eating the curry. So look forward to those exciting events! (I assure you that they will be a lot more interesting than they sound…I hope.) **

**Thank you for reading this lovely garbage, I hope that you will review! **


	9. Realigned

"Eno…Err…I mean Takane-chan, can we go now?" I ask, hopping of the couch as she walks out of the kitchen and back into the living room.

"You don't need to add chan," she mumbles, "But yeah, we can go."

"Finally! Sheesh, what were you doing in the kitchen? Giving birth?"

She glares at me, as she grabs her wallet from off the couch we were sitting on earlier. As anticipated, she uses it to slap me.

"Do you want me to spend money on you or not?" she asks.

"That question is entirely unnecessary."

"Thought so."

We leave the hideout and walk out into the sweltering summer heat. Takane's dressed up in the same clothes she always wore at school, and for some reason that bother's me. I don't say anything though, because doing so would also be 'unnecessary.'

"So…" she says, "What store do you want to go to?"

I give her a blank stare and quickly shrug my shoulders. "I haven't been grocery shopping for quite awhile; I like to let Ayano do it since she seems so fond of carrying baskets and starring at vegetables."

"Always the gentleman, Kano. Always the gentlemen…"

We start walking. I'm not sure where, but I guess that she must have picked the market on her own. Fine by me.

We wait for cars to pass, cross streets, walk, and make idle chit-chat. Takane doesn't seem to entirely hate the fact that I'm making her do something so ridiculous, which is nice. The real nice part about all of this, though, is the curry. Kido's cooking is the only thing that proves that she's a valid asset to the Mekakushi Dan, so if she doesn't cook then there's really no point in having her around…

I probably should have asked her if she'd be willing to cook dinner today before we set out on this little voyage, though. Ah, it doesn't matter. If she says that she isn't then Takane will slap her, so it's all good.

Takane suddenly stops walking and makes a noise akin to that of a playful dolphin. "It's that girl!" she shouts.

"What girl?" I ask, as I accidentally walk into her back and smack my forehead against her neck.

"Shintaro's sister…" she whispers.

"Ooh really? That guy had a sister?" I ask.

"Yeah, she's a famous idol, too. Does the name Kisaragi Momo ring a bell?" That name…it does ring a bell. Of course I've seen billboards and advertisements with that name plastered in sparkly colors, but there's something more important about it than that…That name made my sister cry. Back when my sister was still at the hospital I had turned on the television and some ugly woman was talking about Kisaragi Momo and then my sister started bawling her eyes out and I had to turn the TV off before the room flooded. It all makes sense now.

"Yeah," is all that I say. I sidestep away from Takane's back and stand on my tiptoes to catch a glimpse of Kisaragi-chan.

Her light hair is only a quarter of the rainbow away from mine, and she's dressed in a pale pink hoodie. The hood hangs draped over her face and she's pushed it so far forward that it's a wonder she can even see. Her mouth is curled into a frown and her fists are tightened by her side. She looks like an annoying person.

"Momo-chan!" Takane calls, waving her hand in the air.

Ugh, Takane put your hand down! I don't want to have to deal with anymore depressed people!

Kisaragi-chan looks up for one brief moment, and one more brief moment later and she's surrounded by flesh eating zombies who no doubt want to eat her flesh…Scratch that, she's surrounded by obnoxious people who want her to give them her autograph, and to hop in the back of their truck so that they can take her away and keep her as their favorite memorabilia. I'm just guessing here, though.

She looks frightened as she quickly runs past the crowd with the grace of a startled fawn. Takane curses as she hurries off after her.

Takane's kind of bad at running though, and stands no chance of catching up. She looks a bit pitiful…I groan and quickly start running as well. I pass Takane and shove my way through the crowd of excited fans.

I hadn't realized how fast I am until I push my hand out to heave another fan out of my way and find that I'm actually shoving Kisaragi-chan herself…

She falls onto the ground with a thud and I'm left standing over her, my hand still dangling in the air as her supporters quickly catch up to us.

"Hey punk!" someone yells, "Da' you think it's funny to treat Momo-chan like that? Because I sure as heck don't!"

"Ah no! I swear that I don't either!" I say as I stuff both of my hands into the pockets of my cloak.

A large building in the shape of a man steps forward and grabs me by the color of my shirt. This is bad…He pulls his fist back and then swings it forward. Baaaaaaad! It hurts like heck. If I've ever thought that Kido's punches hurt, then this one will be my undoing. Surely my soul is set on a course to heaven (or its opposite) by now…

Kisaragi-chan slowly rises off the ground and stumbles over to me. She sets her arm on the man's arm and shakes her head. "I think that he's learned his lesson," she whispers.

The man drops me to the ground as he smiles at the idol and walks back into the cluster where the other fans have been watching this little show play out.

Kisaragi-chan holds her hand out to me and I quickly take it and let her help me off of the cement. I hold my cheek in my hand, but the pain still soars.

"Sorry bout' that, I didn't mean to push you," I say, grinning through the pain.

"I know…I'm really sorry that he punched you…that was…he should probably be arrested…" she forces a smile.

By this time Takane catches up and forces herself through the ever growing cluster and to my side. "Hey Momo-chan…Oh my gosh, Kano, what the heck happened to you?"

"Kisaragi-chan has violent fans," I mutter.

She shrugs, "You probably deserved it." She pauses and then shifts her glance to the idol's confused face. "Oh, Momo-chan, this is Kano Shuuya, he's Ayano's little brother."

I wince and shake my head, "Don't say that I'm her _little _brother…that implies something that's not true…"

Takane rolls her eyes, "It kind of is though…"

"Um…Nice to meet you, Kano-kun…I'm Kisaragi Momo…You can call me Momo…" Momo stutters. She looks upset about something, but I really don't have a clue what it is.

Through our entire conversation people scream about autographs, and at a certain point it nearly causes me to loose my mind. I beckon for the others to follow me and start to walk away, but the fans still trail after us. That's when I come up with the perfect plan to make it up to Momo that I threw her onto the asphalt earlier…Though it will take a bit too much effort, but eh, whatever.

I quickly take my cloak off and throw it at Momo. "Put it on," I tell her.

"Eeeh?" she says blushing bright red, "Why?"

"Hurry!" I shout.

She continues blushing as she slips it over her other jacket and pushes the hood up over her head. I know that my sister already told Momo a bit about our eye abilities at Shintaro's funeral, or that's what Takane said, anyway. If that's the case then there isn't any harm in me using my ability in front of her…

I take in a deep breath, smelling the sweet scent of Momo. It's really not as creepy as it sounds…

Once I'm sure that I look just like her, clothes and all, I start running a different direction then her and Takane.

Looking like this, I draw a crowd. The fans diverge from Momo and quickly start running after me. I'm out of breath and want to stop, but I don't think I've covered enough distance yet…So I keep on going. It's really no wonder that Momo is in such good shape.

"Momo-chan!" someone yells and I feel something hot and sweaty touch my arm. I jerk away and frantically take a quick look at my surroundings. There's a book store not too far from me, and with an extra burst of energy that I didn't even know I had left in me, I run inside.

Before any of Momo's fans are able to follow me into the book store I disappear into one of the many aisles of towering novels. I grab the heaviest book I can find off of the shelf, and then I drop it onto my poor unsuspecting toes. As expected, it hurts. I can be sure that I'm back to looking like myself again.

Slowly Momo enthusiasts trickle in one by one, each of them muttering about the location of their favorite idol as they slowly come to realize that she's nowhere to be found. I pick the brick of a book up off the ground, put it back on the shelf and then slip back out the door like a ghost, going unnoticed by all.

Once back outside I find that I'm pretty proud of myself. It was a brilliant plan and I executed it perfectly. Well done, Kano.

My self-congratulations is soon put to an end, however, as I realize that I have no idea where I am. I ran a lot farther than I realized, and this area is one that I don't think I've ever been in before. I fish my cell phone out my pocket, turn the screen on and stare at the many numbers. It's then that I realize that I don't know who to call. Calling one of my adopted siblings would be pointless, they're all the way back at the hideout, and none of them can drive so it's not like that could come and get me…I can't call Takane or Momo, because I don't know what their phone numbers are…So I put my phone away.

I wander around aimlessly, half of me expecting to randomly bump into Takane. After awhile I spot a grocery store and make my way inside.

The chances of this being the store that Takane had in mind are about fifty-fifty, and the chances of Takane neglecting the fact that I had ran off and disappeared and just going grocery shopping anyway are probably fifty-fifty as well…That means that at best there's maybe a twenty-five percent chance that she's somewhere in this store…My brain has a hard deciding whether those odds are good enough for me to take the time to trudge past mounds of Mochi and instant ramen to search for her. In the end, I decide that they are.

"So then…she was telling the truth all along?"

A vaguely familiar voice creeps up my spine, though it's muffled by the shelf of colorful Ramune standing between us.

"Yeah. I know that it's pretty hard to believe, but Kano and Ayano saved my life, so I have to believe them…Plus, Ayano really is immortal and I mean…Kano's power speaks for itself so…" Takane says. Her voice sounds softer than usual and it's almost hard for me to hear what she's saying.

"Onii-chan didn't commit suicide after all…" Momo remarks. She sounds happy. Much happier than she did earlier today.

"Takane!" I yell jumping out from behind the rows of soda.

She looks startled for a moment before composing herself. "Oh, you're alive. How nice."

Momo smiles at me, "Thank you…for what you did back there…it was amazing."

I grin at her, "Aren't I, though?"

Takane punches my shoulder as she balances an empty basket in her other hand. "Start chucking in the ingredients," she orders.

I slowly nod my head, and sigh. Momo looks back and forth between Takane and me. "I should get going…" she whispers.

"Why?" I ask, "Do you hate curry or something?"

"Huh…? No I like curry…"

"Then why don't you just come eat dinner with us, its Takane's treat," I say.

"I wouldn't want make Takane-chan buy more ingredients…"

"She doesn't mind."

Momo looks at Takane who shrugs, "Though I want to punch him for speaking for me, he's right. I really don't mind."

Momo smiles, "Alright, then I guess that I will…I do need to apologize to Ayano-chan anyway…"

Though I have no idea what transpired between her and Onee-chan, I just decide to roll with it.

Even though I know Momo will enjoy eating Kido's curry, there's a more important reason that I invited Momo to the hideout, I invited her so that she can learn to control her power, and keep her red eyes in check.

* * *

**Sorry that this update took me way longer than usual, I'm not really sure why it did…**

**Thank you for reading this chapter, and please review if you feel so obliged. **


	10. Intertwined

Surrounded by uncanny resemblances I take a seat on the ground. The mangy dog bounds towards me and then curls his small body onto my outstretched lap. I slowly run my fingers through his short fur and sigh as my eyes glance up towards the others.

"Soooooo…." someone mumbles, "You're his son?" The fiery haired girl points at my father and cocks her head to the side.

I nod slowly and then the world grows quiet. In this world we are all connected. Our living relatives, the ones we died for, or rather, died with; are all a family. My situation is a little bit different, but technicalities aside, that's the general rule. To be honest though, whether that family still exists, I don't really know. The world I left behind is probably very different then the world where I was No. 7 of the Mekakushi Dan. Now, the question I really want the answer to is if that world is better or not.

"How sweet! You've been reunited with your father!" another woman beams. This woman has dark black hair and a smile warmer than the sun. I know her, but she doesn't seem to have a clue who I am, or how I'm actually very closely connected to her and her family.

I smile at her and nod once more.

"I really wish that he hadn't…" my father whispers.

"Couldn't be helped," I say.

"It could have been…If you were just a little less brave…or perhaps if you had valued your life a bit more…"

What? He makes it sound like I really did commit suicide! Valued my life? I did value my life! I just happened to value Ayano's more…there's nothing wrong with that…right?

"You're one to speak! You sacrificed yourself to save Momo! So why are you acting like I did the wrong thing and you didn't!?" I shout.

"I never said that you did the wrong thing!" he shouts back, "It's just…I died trying to save my daughter, but it wasn't your job to save this...Ayano girl." He looks guilty after the words leave his mouth. I understand what he's trying to say, but he can't possibly understand how important Ayano is, how special she is and how much she means to so many people. So far I've told him about how I used Marry to travel through time, and how I jumped off the roof so that Ayano could live. He knows almost everything, except the things that really matter.

"Ayano?" the dark haired woman mouths. Her shock is understandable. I'm like a bulletin board that holds the key to keeping them posted on the people that they were all forced to leave behind.

"Nice to meet you, Tateyama-san," I say, holding my hand out towards her. She's never told me her family name, so this is obviously going to come as another surprise.

She quickly shakes my hand, with a stunned expression appearing on her face. "How do you know my daughter?" she asks.

"Ayano," I whisper, "She was a classmate of mine, actually…a friend. She was one of the best people I knew…but I guess I was kind of a jerk to her most of the time…though it really wasn't anything personal…Anyway, during the summer of her first year of high school, on August fifteenth, Ayano jumped off of the roof of our school and died."

Before I can stop them, tears are streaming down her mother's cheeks. Of course they are. Why did I feel the need to tell this woman that her daughter had once died? I should have just told her the happy version…but yet I feel that I did the right thing being honest with her. I can't quite place my finger on why I feel that way, though, I just do.

"After her death I didn't leave my room for two years. Then one day I opened an email that contained a 'virus.' Well actually, the virus was a virtual girl named Ene, who it turns out used to be a friend of Ayano and me as well. Ene, being an idiot, caused me to spill soda on my keyboard, and, since it was Obon, I was forced to leave my house in order to buy a new one. Long story short, leaving my house led to an encounter with Kan…err…Shuuya, Tsubomi, and Seto." Tateyama-san isn't the only one to gasp at the mentioning of those names. Two others do as well, the fiery haired girl, and the frowning middle aged woman who sits across from me. I've already figured out that the red haired girl is Kido's sister, and from her reaction, it seems that the middle aged woman must be Kano's mom.

This truly is a small, connected world of shared misery.

I continue speaking, though I'm tired of doing so. It's hard to tell this story and make it make sense. It was hard enough just telling it to my dad, so I feel almost nervous telling it to such a large audience. "I became friends with them, and another girl named, Marry. This Marry girl has the power to reverse time, so I asked her to make it go back to before Ayano died. She reversed things back to the exact day that Ayano was destined to kill herself, so I went to the school and jumped off the roof with her. She left the Heat Haze with an eye ability and now here I am."

Ah. I forgot to mention something. The way I told this story will surely upset Tateyama-san. "Oh and…Ayano only killed herself because she thought that it would give her an eye ability, she didn't really want to die. It's just that…she wanted to stop someone from getting hurt." Yeah, it's probably best if I don't mention that she wanted to stop her father from killing Takane. I doubt that Tateyama-san would be able to swallow that very well, and either way I don't really understand that fact myself. There's just no way that Ayano's father is that kind of person…

"You…died to save my daughter?" Tateyama-san asks me.

I shrug my shoulders as my cheeks grow hot. This is just way too embarrassing. "Well…Ayano will probably make a better use of her life than I ever did…" Even if those words sting my father, I can't help but say them.

The feeling of her hand on my head is foreign and uncomfortable. I know that she's just trying to comfort me, but I really wish that she wouldn't. Being patted like this by Ayano's mom…Is way too embarrassing.

Her tears drip down onto my neck as she pulls me into a hug. "Ayano is so lucky…to have a friend like you."

I want to tell her that she's wrong. I want to tell her that I'm really just selfish, and that I only saved Ayano because I was sick of missing her and I was feeling guilty for living on without her. I want to tell her that what I did wasn't as heroic as she thinks, and that Ayano probably hates me by now. I did to her what she did to me, only far worse. I've left her with a heaping pile of guilt. So, even if what I did is good in a sense, it's bad in another.

"Cept' I'm dead now," is all that I say.

She frowns at me as she slowly lets her arms slip down mine, breaking our hug. "I'm sure that Ayano must miss you…"

"And Momo," dad chimes in, "And your mother."

When he died I remember wondering if my range of emotions would ever expand again. It felt like I'd always be a little empty inside. As time passed, I was able to feel happy again, and then Ayano died and the cycle was forced to repeat. Death is truly the worst. Even if we are able to meet the ones we love again, like I've been able to with my father, the time spent apart from them is so painful. Funerals are unbearable.

Images dance through my mind of incense, cremation, and a headstone with my name on it. That pain…I've inflicted it on Momo and my mom haven't I? In order to make Ayano, Kano, Kido, and Seto find joy once more….did I really have to steal it from my own family? The guilt I've been hiding from is working its way up my throat. Even the greatest acts of courage are really just selfish in the end. No matter who dies, someone will always suffer.

"I know," I say as I try to swallow my emotions once more.

"So…" the white haired woman speaks up, "You knew my daughter as well?"

White hair…long and gorgeous. Yeah. I knew her daughter. "Ah, Marry? Yeah." I smile at her before continuing, "You don't need to worry about her, she's made lots of friends and…they'll protect her." If they ever actually meet her that is…Since I failed to keep my promise Marry's future is a little iffy, but I have faith that it'll wind up going her way in the end.

The woman smiles back at me, "That's great…"

The mysterious black haired woman, who stands next to her, has remained silent thus far, but now she seems as if she wants to say something as well. Her hair is incredible, and I can't help but feel that she's definitely related to Marry somehow.

"She's my granddaughter," the woman says, as if she can read my mind. Though I know that she can't, she isn't Seto, after all.

"Allow me to introduce you to Azami, the founder of this world," Kido's sister says, sounding bored, "She used to have all the eye abilities but due to giving one of them to Marry she's been forced to give them away each time someone dies on August fifteenth."

I can't help but wonder how she knows all of this, but I guess that it isn't important. "Oh…" is all that I can manage to say.

"This woman here is Kano-san, she's Shion, I'm Kido, and that's Tateyama Ayaka," The fiery haired girl goes down the line with her introductions, and each of the names feels odd in association with these people. For example, this girl speaking to me shouldn't be allowed to call herself Kido-san; it will only serve to confuse me. Can't she tell me her first name, please?

"Nice to meet you all," I say, bowing my head down ever-so-slightly.

"Nice to meet you as well," some of them echo back.

"Well, welcome to the never-ending world of the dead," Kido-san says, "Now…I have a question for you."

"What?" I ask.

"Does Tsubomi ever stop looking like a boy with a skirt on?"

I can't help myself, I start laughing. My laughter echoes through the emptiness and suddenly the darkness of this world seems a tad bit brighter. "Well, she stops wearing skirts, so yeah."

* * *

**I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter…I absolutely hated writing it. I wrote a first draft and it turned out great, and it was really fun to write and I was almost done with it…and then I realized that I had completely forgotten to put Ayaka in it, and I had to restart. I don't like the way it turned out very much…but I hope it's tolerable at least. **

**Thank you so much for reading and please review! **

**Also, can people see outside of the Heat Haze? I know that Azami used to be able too, but I just wrote that she can't anymore since she's given away all her eye abilities, but wait…since she still has the focusing eyes she should probably be able to. *Shrugs* Whatever, I'll just leave it the way it is…**


	11. Inclined

"Kano!" I shout as I crane my body up, my arms outstretched and my knees bending as I jump up and down.

Even after I make a fool of myself calling for him, he doesn't come. I'm buying food for him and he's…

Going to get strangled.

My surroundings grow a little darker as someone's shadow covers me. "Ah…is…this what you want?" the shadow asks me.

In his hand, a tall, lanky boy holds out the exact curry powder that I had been reaching for. I nod my head and smile at him, "Thank…" My words are cut off by my tongue as my eyes glance over this odd looking boy once more.

His deep pink eyes lack any emotion as they blink once, then twice. He opens his mouth to say something, but I'm too caught up in my daze to hear him. His pure white hair sways over his forehead, as if it's reaching to hide the mark on his cheek. Those two connected circles that share the same hue as his eyes are perhaps his weirdest feature, and they also just might be the reason why I'm so very suspicious of him.

He turns his back on me and starts walking away, but before I can stop myself my thin fingers are clutching onto the loose material of his white shirt. He spins back around to see why I'm holding onto him, and as he does my breath catches in my throat. "Haru…"

He cocks his head to the side, now starting to show some emotion, confusion, that is. "Do you need something else?" he asks me with his slow, measured speech.

"No…it's just; do I know you?"

"Know…me? I don't understand…"

I feel my shoulders sag with disappointment, but yet I know that I can't give up. He's so familiar and so recognizable, that there's no way that I'm wrong.

"Konoha!" someone yells, "We're leaving!"

His ears perk up and he starts to turn around again. He takes a step forward, and yet again my body acts on impulse. "Wait! Konoha!"

"What?" he asks me. His tone isn't rude, simply a bit hurried as if this conversation is a bit too much for him to handle.

"I…" I can't let him leave. I can't let him go and then suffer every sleepless night wondering if things could have turned out differently had I kept this boy closer to me. "Do you like curry?"

He frantically nods his head.

If I took this flustered boy back to the hideout to eat curry with me and ignored the call of whoever wants him to leave with them, could that be considered kidnapping? Probably not…but I don't want to upset his companion.

"Do you want to come eat some?" I ask him, "Eer, I'm not trying to sound creepy…but my friend is cooking some and since you helped me it's only fair right?" Yeah, because helping someone in a grocery store always warrants a dinner invite…totally normal.

He smiles for the first time and yet again nods his head.

"Ah, but shouldn't you ask first?" I question.

He nods for fiftieth time and then starts walking forward. He leaves me smiling to myself, and I feel like a desperate fool hanging onto a twisted illusion, but yet I'm still happy inside.

I feel a sharp tug on the back of my sleeve. I turn around only to be faced with a sharp set of wild brown cat-eyes. "Takane!" Kano shouts, "We have to get out of here!"

"Huh? Why?" I sound angry, with my harsh tone and I'm no doubt glaring at him as well. If he makes us leave now then Konoha will forever be a mystery.

"He's here!" Kano shouts.

"Who?" I ask, still pissed off.

"My father! And the snake inside of him who tried to kill you!"

My blood turns cold and suddenly I wish that I could disappear like Kido. How convenient invisibility would be at a time like this. That man is here. The man who I trusted and cared about, the man who I somewhat respected despite all his flaws and his annoying sense of humor, the man who was possessed by an evil snake, the very man who tried to take my life. The man who killed Shintaro.

"You're right," I whisper, "Come on."

Before I can sneak away with Kano and Momo into a land of freedom and heavy sighing, Kano's eyes grow. They grow unto they are almost popping out of his head. They grow until they no longer resemble a cat's, and then, before I can realize why, he takes on the appearance of a middle-aged woman and flees from my very presence, with Momo's hand in his.

"I asked…" a familiar voice says.

I turn around to find Konoha standing there, and start to feel almost at ease, until I see the person behind him. Tateyama-sensei.

"Ah, Takane-san, so you invited my foster son to dinner?" the snake asks me.

"Oh well…I…" I can't stop my shaking voice from stuttering.

"I really don't think that you should have," he mutters, a sick smile appearing on his face.

I want to run, but my feet are planted in place. My basket full of ingredients is still in my hand and as it shakes I threaten to drop it. I nod my head just slightly.

"But…" Konoha whispers.

My eyes snap towards him and scan over his bright, confused eyes and his youthful, innocent features. This is wrong. I can't run, I can't continue to let my body shake and my head nod out of fear. I make up my mind to stand my ground. Somewhere inside of me, I try to pretend that this is a video game. I'm playing the role of the heroine, and it's my job to rescue a newborn baby from a hoard of flesh-eating zombies. Since this is a video game, the danger isn't real. I can shoot at the zombies without fear of becoming one myself.

"I think he wants to come, Tateyama-sensei," I pause before saying, "I promise that I'll take good care of him and have him home before dark." I force a smile.

"I don't know…" the snake replies.

"Please?" I beg, "He'll have fun!"

Konoha glances at the snake and utters a single word, "Curry…"

"I'm sorry, but I can't just allow Konoha to run off on his own…" the snake hisses. Or perhaps the hissing effect is just in my head…

"I understand…" I say.

Konoha actually looks a bit disappointed, and my heart breaks a bit. Why do I feel this way? Why do I feel such a strong desire to take him by the hand and watch over him for the rest of his life? He isn't a stray puppy…it isn't like I can adopt him and take him under my wing. Even if he is who I think he is…No, there's just no way that this boy is Haruka. It's such a silly, simpleminded thought that I shouldn't have even allowed myself to think it. Haruka is dead, and the peculiar double in front of me is surely just an illusion that the snake created to tempt me towards my own demise. I should run away, and never look back. I should forget about Konoha. I should just forget about him…There's nothing I can do to help him!

"Then I'll go checkout," I whisper. I walk past the two of them, and as I do I can feel the weight of their four eyes pressing down on my back.

"Ah…good…bye?" I hear Konoha say as I abandon him.

I wait in line to buy the ingredients. I don't know why, but even after all this I'm set on finishing what I started. I solemnly swear that the Mekakushi Dan will feast on curry tonight. No matter what.

Finally I'm able to grab my groceries, which are now bagged up nicely, and walk towards the exit. I walk out the door and into the parking lot. As I leave, I spot Konoha once more, getting into a car with the most dangerous man in the world.

My heart falls apart.

Heavy bags in hand, I dash towards the car as it begins to back out of the parking lot. I frantically pull on the door and bang on the windows, until it finally stops.

"What is it, Takane?" the snake snaps.

I'm out of breath and I'm desperate. "I want to be Konoha's friend!" I shout. The words are an enigma to me. Why did I say something like that?

Konoha's eyes grow, just as Kano's had, but I feel that it isn't out of fear. He's starting to smile his vague, distant smile, once more. "Friend!?" he asks, almost excitedly.

"Konoha, don't listen to her, she wouldn't be a good influence on you," the snake butts in.

I'm left with a puzzle. How do I get Konoha out of the car and to the hideout? I feel a tap on my back. It's the middle-aged woman from the grocery store…Or rather, it's Kano!

I smile at him as he glares at me. "The car is over there," he says, pointing.

I follow his finger, and I find Momo waving at me from a distant vehicle. Car? How did they get a car? Whatever, that's not what's important right now!

"Konoha, please come be my friend!" I yell.

His hand is on the door now. I smile at him and nod my head, and as I do his door swings open. I don't wait another moment. His hand is already in mine, and I am already forcing him to run towards the other car.

Kano jumps into the back seat, and I follow suit, pushing Konoha in with me. The car starts driving, and we're out of the parking lot just as the snake starts tailing us. "Crap!" I mutter, "We have to lose him!"

For the first time since getting into the car, my eyes flick up towards the driver's seat. In it is a teenage boy that I have never laid eyes on before. He's pretty young, and is eyeing Momo very flirtatiously. I can't help but feel a bit worried for her safety, but she doesn't seem too concerned. All at once our current situation begins to make sense to me. Momo and Kano ran about looking for an unsuspecting Momo fan to give us a ride. It couldn't have been too hard to find one, either.

With a series of sharp turns, and speeding that more than justifies a ticket, we manage to get rid of our shadow. I breathe a sigh of relief as his car disappears, and stays out of view. Once we all feel reasonably safe, we are able to start talking to each other again.

"Who the heck is this?" Kano asks, pointing at Konoha. He once again looks like himself, but his cat-eyes are still narrowed in on me.

"His name is Konoha," I explain, "I think that he might be…" No, if I say such a thing Kano will surely just laugh at me. There's no way that I'm not just being an idiot. There's no way that Konoha isn't just some random person and I'm not just imaging that he looks identical to Haruka's avatar on Dead Bullet-1989. Even if his appearance is actually different than the one in my head, though, there's no way that I got his name wrong…and that name is…

"Who?" Kano asks me.

"I think that he might have something to do with Haruka," I finally say, "It's just that…Haruka and I used to play this video game, and Konoha was Haruka's player name, and also…Konoha looks identical to that player, so I just couldn't leave him with that snake. I'm sorry, I know that I'm acting stupid and that I put you in danger and made you worry about me, but I had to!"

"Pssh, worry about you? Who said that?" he asks, grinning, "And anyway, I understand why you did it. I don't want that stupid snake to hurt anyone else, either. Besides, it isn't like this guy is his foster son, either, so something weird is definitely going on…"

I nod my head. So it seems that Kano must have been just an aisle over, listening in on my conversation with the snake and Konoha. I guess that, that makes things easier. I feel relieved that he's being this understanding. Perhaps he shares the same hatred for the snake that I do.

"So…you wound up buying all the ingredients anyway?" he whispers.

I nod once again, "Yeah…I mean; we invited a lot of guests, so it'd be wrong to disappoint them."

"What do you mean?" Konoha suddenly asks.

"Huh?" I mumble, beginning to dig through the bags of ingredients so that I can make sure that everything is still in there.

"Why would he hurt me?" Konoha questions.

"Oh well…Konoha…do you remember last week?" I ask.

"Last…week? Well…" a blank look crosses over his face and then he looks as if he's going to cry. In the end, he simply shakes his head.

"As I thought," I whisper. A week ago Haruka was still alive, and by my side. If Konoha really is Haruka, but yet he can't remember me, or anything that Haruka used to care about, then it makes sense that all he can remember is the last few days. "That man is dangerous," I tell him, "He tried to hurt me, and I just don't want him to hurt you!"

"Because we're friends?" he asks me.

"Yeah," I say, as the car stops and I glance out the window to see that we've arrived at the hideout, "Because we're friends."

* * *

**Yay! This chapter was so much easier to write than the last one…**

**Obviously, this story is going to have a bit of Harutaka in it. Though if I wind up writing another Kagerou Project fanfiction after this one, it is totally going to be a Kanotaka fic, the plot for it has been stuck in my head for a month…**

**Anyway, I know that this chapter probably seems a little far-stretched and that the characters are probably a little OOC, but I did my best so I hope that you all liked it! **

**Thank you all for your kind reviews and please continue to leave them! **


	12. Dined

_Kido's POV_

* * *

"Gee Kano, you have no idea how excited I get when you bring home random guests and promise them that I'll cook curry," I growl as he begins to grin.

He slings his arm across my shoulders as he says, "I don't know…probably very."

"Sorry, Kido," Takane whispers as she hands me a bag of groceries, "I'll help you in any way that I can…Though; I can't cook…at all."

Yeah. Thanks, Takane. I'm sure that you'll be tons of help…Or perhaps none at all.

I glare at Kano as he releases my shoulders from his awkward, huggy-thingy. "Kano, is something wrong?" I ask him. He might be smiling the same as always, but I've always had a special gift for looking deeper than his phony smiles, and I can tell from the way that he's been talking and acting since he came home that something is troubling him.

He tilts his head at me and then shakes it. "Nope, why? Are you upset that Momo is prettier than you?"

I slap him. The moment that my palm makes contact with his face, I see something. The gentle sadness in his eyes that appears when his mask is forced off by the pain, confirms my suspicions. "Tell me what happened!" I demand.

Takane, who was about to leave the living room and walk into the dining room where the others have gathered, stops at the doorway and turns around to face us. "He saw your father at the grocery store."

Kano turns away from me and quickly walks closer to Takane. "What are you thinking, telling her that!?" he yells.

"I'm sorry, Kano, but it isn't healthy for you to keep this to yourself," she whispers.

He looks like he wants to hit her. He could easily cover up his anger by painting on another smile, but I can tell that he doesn't want to. He wants her to know that he's mad.

"Kano, calm down," I say, "Just tell me what happened. Why won't anyone tell me? I deserve to know why I've had to uproot my life and start living here instead of home!" I start my little speech sounding fairly calm myself, but by the end I sound every bit as angry as Kano.

"What's going on?" Onee-chan asks as she walks into the room. Her cheeks are red and her hair is tousled, it's almost as though she's been crying. So, she's upset too…About what? About Shintaro? Or is it something else?

"Kido is just freaking out over nothing, don't worry about it, Nee-chan," Kano whispers, as a smile appears on his face.

"Tsubomi?" Onee-chan asks, her eyes showing her sincere concern for me.

"I just…" The words are hard to grasp. I don't want to upset Onee-chan. If something is making her sad though…why won't she allow me to comfort her? "Wanted to know why Kano is afraid of our father…" I whisper.

She looks dismayed for a moment, before framing a smile that's almost as convincing as Kano's and softly shaking her head. "Shuuya is just…immature; you should know that by now. He's only upset because he got yelled at for breaking something important to dad."

"Then why are we here, away from dad?" I ask. I'm not a fool. I've been around Kano enough to see through shabby lies, and boy was that one shabby…

"Some of dad's students have to work on something with him, and they're going to need a lot of space to do it so…"

"Ayano…" Takane butts in, "I know that you're worried about her, but isn't it even worse if you continue to let her be so ignorant?"

All at once I start to like Takane. She's the only one willing to tell me anything, and I intend to have her tell me everything.

"But!" Onee-chan protests, "I don't…I just want her to be happy!" All at once she starts sobbing. She cries so loudly that Seto bursts out of the kitchen and comes running to her side.

"Onee-chan! What's wrong?" he asks, putting his small arms around her waist.

"I've already made Shuuya miserable…I can't do it to them too!" she cries. She carefully wraps her arms around Seto, and buries her face in his thick, black hair.

"Nee-chan," Kano mumbles, "I'm alright so don't…be like this…"

I feel almost jealous as I watch Kano look away from our sister's face as if feeling guilty for making her cry. He's known all along. Something important, something life-changing, and most importantly, something that Onee-chan refused to tell me. Does she like him better? Trust him more?

This inadequacy that I'm feeling is stupid, and it doesn't belong in my heart during such an important moment, but yet it's already in there.

"Shuuya, I'm sorry that I got you involved it's just that I needed you…or I thought that I did, in the end I only made things worse…and I made it all so hard on you! You were on the roof that day, weren't you?" she asks through her tears.

He nods his head, just a bit, a motion so small that it's almost easy to miss. "Of course…but it doesn't matter anymore…"

"Yes it does, Shuuya!" Onee-chan yells, "I made you suffer and worry like that! I…I'm so sorry."

"It isn't your fault…Besides, Takane is right, Kido and Seto were bound to find out eventually; you just gave me a head start…"

Onee-chan takes a deep breath, before tugging on the back of Kano's black hood and pulling him into the hug with Seto and her. "Takane, thank you, for not letting me lie anymore…also, thank you for staying here with us…I'm sorry for dragging you into this too."

"Dragging me in?" Takane scoffs, "Yeah, because you totally need to apologize for saving my life."

Ayano smiles at the older girl, and then breaks her hug with my brothers. "Alright, Tsubomi," she says, "I'm going to tell you what Shuuya is afraid of."

* * *

The kitchen is hot and I feel like I'm going to internally combust. I stare longingly at the dining room, where everyone else is already sitting down at the table. Kano sticks his tongue out at me and I turn away from him, to hide a small smile.

I no longer feel jealous of him. Instead, I actually pity him. Just a little bit though…

To think that he watched Onee-chan commit suicide…I can't even imagine. I never even knew that he had to go to school, pretending to be her. How hard that must have been, for a fourteen year-old who had only gone to one day of public school in his entire life, to pretend to be a high-school student?

And it must have been especially hard for an annoying idiot like him.

Ah, but why do I feel like this? Why do I continue to drop water into the pan of rice, even though it doesn't need any…and why is that that water is coming from my eyes?

My family has had to endure so much…and yet I haven't done anything to help them. Not that it's my fault.

Oh well, maybe this curry will make it up to them, if only a little…

"Yes! Kisaragi Momo! Member number five of the Mekakushi Dan!"

I glance towards the dining room once more, to see Kano jump out his seat and forcefully raise a young girl's arm into the air. The girl, Momo, blushes and smiles a bit, as she forces him to let her arm down.

"Now, now, what about you, Konoha?" he asks, grinning.

"Ah…what?" someone asks. The question comes from a tall, pale, teenage boy who seems to not have a clue what's going on.

Kano sighs, "Do you want to be part of our…"

"Friendship gang!" Takane shouts, smiling so widely that it looks painful.

The white haired boy nods feverously.

"Member number six of the Mekakushi Dan, Konoha!" Kano yells, hoping out of his chair once more and rushing over to Konoha. He does the same thing he did with Momo, he takes his arm and shoves it so that it's above his head.

Throughout this odd ritual, Konoha starts to look a bit excited, and also frightened. Then again, who can blame him? Kano is pretty nerve-racking.

"Welcome!" Seto says, before frowning a bit, "But um…if you wouldn't mind could you tell us who they are, Kano?"

"Oh…right…" Kano mutters, "This is Kisaragi Momo, and this is Konoha."

"Uh…yeah, I already know that…" Seto whispers.

"Momo is Shintaro's little sister, she's also a famous idol and um…Kano's heart goes 'doki doki' when he's around her," Takane says, she bursts into laughter as she stares at Momo's reddened face and Kano's angry expression.

I can't help myself from laughing as well, even though Kano sends a dirty look my way.

"Haha, very funny…" Kano mumbles through gritted teeth, "Now shall I introduce Konoha? He is a mysterious person who Takane believes to be her long-lost love, he has no memories of her, but yet her heart goes 'doki doki' from the mere thought of him! She wakes up early in the morning so that she can crawl into his room and watch his chest rise and fall as he sleeps. As she does this, she whispers to herself, _'Ah, Konoha, if only you would remember me so that I could make-out with you!"_

"I don't even know where his room is! I mean…Kano…I am going to murder you!" Takane yells, as she leans across the table so that she can place her skinny fingers against Kano's soft neck.

Throughout this, Konoha doesn't move a muscle. He just looks very, very confused, and a tad red-faced. "She's never…done that…." He sounds a bit uncertain, and Takane frantically shakes her head, to back up his words.

"Dinner is ready!" I shout, wiping a strand of hair off my forehead.

"Curry!" Kano shouts, "Finally! Took you long enough, Kido!"

Onee-chan and Seto rush over to help me get the food onto the table. Once we're all settled with food on our plates, conversation resumes.

"This is delicious, Kido!" Momo says, with food in her mouth and chopsticks in her hand.

I smile, "Thank you, I'm glad that you like it!"

"Ah…can I have more?" Konoha asks, holding out a bare plate.

We started eating three minutes ago…What the heck is wrong with this guy?

I simply nod my head, and dish out more curry for him. He smiles at me and bows his head a bit while whispering, "Thank you."

Something about this small exchange seems to make Takane extremely happy. "Konoha, watch out…if you keep making her smile like this she really will kiss you," Kano whispers.

"Oh, shut up!" Takane mutters, with a smile still implanted on her face.

Konoha cocks his head to the side, "But…is that a bad thing?" He sounds so innocent that I almost laugh. Something about him is warm, even if he does seem a bit expressionless and weird, I can tell that he's a good person.

"Depends," Onee-chan cuts in, "Do you like Takane?"

Konoha nods, "Of course!"

Kano leans over Momo's lap so that he can elbow Takane in the ribs. He gives her a thumbs up. She shakes her head and then lowers it so that all she can see are her own thighs.

"Then it isn't a bad thing," Onee-chan replies, before taking a bit of her meal.

"Really?" Konoha asks, wide-eyed, "Kiss…?" He stares at Takane from out of the corners of his eyes.

"Stop it," Takane whispers, "This isn't funny, anymore. I'm not going to kiss you, Konoha. You don't even understand what it mea…" Before she can finish her sentence his lips are placed against hers. Her cheeks are crimson as she pulls away from him. "Wha…!" she yells, covering her lips with her right hand.

Konoha looks a bit hurt, "It…was bad?"

"Na…no, Konoha, but that isn't something that friends do! Something like that…only people who are in love can do it!" Takane protests, as she places her hand on his back.

He tilts his head downwards and say, "I'm…sorry. I thought that…you would like it…"

"I did!" Takane shouts, and then immediately looks as though she wishes she hadn't. "Ugh! Stupid Kano! He isn't just some toy for you to play with! Just because he doesn't remember much yet doesn't mean that you can take advantage of him and make him do this kind of thing!" She sighs as she stands up, "I…excuse me." She then leaves the room, and a thick layer of tension seems to feel in the space where she sat.

"Takane!" Kano yells, "Don't be a baby about this!" Then he glares at our sister and asks, "Why is she so mad at me? You did it too…"

Konoha starts crying. It's the weirdest thing, one second his face is completely blank, and the next there are tears cascading down his colorless cheeks. "Sorry," he whispers to no one in particular.

"Konoha!" Onee-chan, calls, "Please don't cry! You didn't do anything wrong!"

Kano lets of a frustrated groan, before standing up and following after Takane. For some reason I can't place my finger on, I tail him.

In the living room, Takane is lying on the couch with her head against the arm rest. "I'm sorry, Kano…" she whispers, "I just…can't stand to see him like this."

Kano walks over to her side and forces her feet off of the other armrest so that he can sit down on it. "Oh…" he grows silent for a minute, "But Takane, the important thing right now is that he's here with us, right? As long as he's out of that snake's clutches, maybe we can help him? Maybe with time his memory will come back, or…"

"What if he isn't even really Haruka, Kano? Maybe I'm just delusional and what if…I just kissed an absolute stranger!? What if this love that I feel for him is wrong? What if I spend years upon years frantically trying to force him to remember me…but he never does?" she covers her eyes with her arm and I wonder if she's beginning to cry.

"Even if he never remembers you…it will never be too late to make new memories with him," I say, stepping closer to the couch.

Takane lets her arm hang down again, so that she can stare at my face. "I know…Even this type of him…Even if he stays this way forever, I…I don't think that I can stop loving him."

"You shouldn't. Takane…I don't think that he would have kissed _me_ if Kano had joked about it…he kissed you because he likes you, maybe he even has a faint memory of loving you, but either way, he's in there crying because he doesn't want to hurt you…" I do my best to comfort her, but romance and love is a funny thing to me. Even still, I know that this isn't the type of task that Kano could have handled alone.

Takane smiles at me, "Thanks, Kido. I guess that…I should probably stop making such a big deal out of this and just focus on protecting him…and being his friend."

"And just for the record…you started it first by making fun of me in front of Momo…also; she probably thinks that I'm a jerk now so…Would it be alright with you if I killed you now?" Kano questions.

Takane nods and says, "Go ahead…and don't worry, I'll get her to kiss you too."

"I don't want that!" Kano yells, nervously.

* * *

As dishes are washed, goodbyes are said.

I stand in front of the sink and watch Takane whisper something to Onee-chan, who then nods.

"I know that you probably can't afford to feed him…so I'll give you however much money you need! I'll get a job too…" Takane says, finally speaking loud enough that I can hear her.

"There's really no need, Takane. Konoha is my friend now too, so I think it will be fun to have him stay here."

Oh. So that's what they're talking about.

Takane frowns as she says, "Thank you, but…him being here, might put you in danger. I don't know what Tateyama-sensei was going to use him for, but he might want him back…and so…" She sighs and looks into Onee-chan's eyes. "No. I can't ask you to risk everything for him. It's my responsibility to protect him, so I'll just have to take him with me and hope that my grandmother doesn't notice."

"I don't think that's possible…" Onee-chan replies, smiling, "Don't worry so much. Konoha is family now, and so are you, so I'll protect him too, okay?"

Then they hug, and I can't help but smile.

So…Konoha is going to start living here too? That should be interesting, to say the least.

"Thank you all for the meal!" Momo calls, as she walks out of the kitchen.

"Goodbye, Momo!" Kano shouts, "Crap…its dark…she can't walk home alone." He then walks out of the room as well.

"Wait!" Takane yells, "I'm leaving too!" She begins to chase after him, but she pauses by the door, "Thank you, Kido. See you later!"

After that, they all leave the house together. Only Seto, Onee-chan, Konoha, and I remain in the kitchen and dining room. The apartment seems too quite for a moment, and then Onee-chan says, "Alright, Konoha! This will be your new home, does that sound nice?"

He bows and smiles, "Thank you."

"Welcome!" Onee-chan pauses and grins, "Now, who's up for a tour?"

* * *

**So, as requested, I put at the top of the chapter who's POV it would be in. I'm really not sure why I didn't just do that in the first place, though….**

**Thank you for all the support that I've received for this story! Please review!**


	13. Mind

_Seto's POV_

* * *

Onee-chan leads us into her room and slowly reaches her arm out and waves it up and down as if showing off her brilliant interior decorating. In reality, her room is actually pretty messy and I'm forced to wonder when we're going to buy a vacuum.

She smiles at Konoha and mumbles, "This is my room, feel free to knock if you need anything."

Konoha bows his head and says, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Onee-chan replies. After saying this, her focus shifts onto me, "How bout' now, Kousuke?" she asks this with a mischievous smile on her face, and in any other situation it would only serve to reaffirm my deep love for my sister. In this situation, however, that smile makes me kind of angry.

"No," I mutter, looking away from her puppy dog eyes.

She sighs as she grabs Konoha by his elbow and begins leading him towards the next tourist destination.

"This will be your room, Konoha," she tells him.

I glance inside the room, with its dusty walls. There's a crooked futon lying on the ground, with its blankets unfurled and the pillow is half-way across the room as if it wronged someone in the middle of the night and was thrown into the corner. Onee-chan promised that we'll eventually get Western style beds, since that's what we're used to sleeping on, and that's the sort of bed that we had at home, though, as of right now the futons are all we have. They were already at the apartment when we started living here, and no one has the money to replace them, so we just make due with what we have. I actually sort of like living here, though.

"Onee-chan…" Kido whispers, "Isn't this Kano's room?"

"Yep!" Our sister sounds so casual about it that I could almost believe that Kano will be totally fine with this little intrusion as well. Even if I know for a fact that he won't be.

"Why doesn't he just sleep on the couch in the living room?" Kido asks, a look of concern crossing of her distinct features.

"Because, that couch is for guests like Takane, Konoha isn't a guest anymore, he's a permanent resident now," Onee-chan answers, smiling at Konoha and gently nudging him into the room.

His feet thud onto the hard wood and he smiles faintly. "Thank you," he says again.

I'd offer to let Konoha stay in my room, but the moment Onee-chan announced that we'd be staying here for awhile Kano ran into the biggest room in the apartment and claimed it as his own. Now, he's simply getting what he deserves.

"Alright!" Onee-chan cheers, "This officially concludes the tour of apartment 107! Now Kousuke will read your mind and help you regain your memories!"

I shake my head, and try to swallow my annoyance towards her insistence.

She's been pestering me about reading Konoha's mind ever since Takane, Momo, and Kano left. For some reason she is incapable of understanding that I refuse to use my powers like this. I'm not just going to intrude upon Konoha's brain without his permission.

"What do you think, Konoha? Would it bother you if Kousuke looked around a bit inside of your brain? Do you have any secrets you don't want him to know?" she asks, beating me to the punch.

Konoha has a blank look on his face, making it clear that he doesn't exactly understand what she's talking about. "I don't have….any secrets," he finally says.

"Great!" Onee-chan clasps her hands together and then stares at me, pressuring me with her eyes.

I admit defeat. "Alright…" I whisper, as I step a bit closer to Konoha. It's gotten a bit easier to control my powers, which means that I no longer have to contend with the thoughts of others flowing in and out of my mind without my consent. It's been blissful living life like that, but here I am being forced to enter someone else's mind and hear whatever twisted or deeply personal thoughts they are thinking.

It takes a bit of concentration before Konoha's thoughts become mine.

"_Read my mind? What…did they mean by that?" _

I try skipping pasts his current thoughts, digging a bit deeper. It's always been harder for me to reach back into the memories of others, and I've hardly ever done so, but I'm able to slip back into his past. However, that past is very, very short. The farthest back that I can possibly get is last week.

His first memory is of waking up in a laboratory. I frantically try to leave his mind, I've seen enough already, I know now that I can't access any memories that he himself can't even recall, so I should just stop intruding…But yet I find that his voice won't leave my head.

Suddenly someone else's voice blurs and mixes in with his. It's a voice familiar and warm to me, the voice of the only father I've ever known. The voice of this family member that I love very much was the first thing Konoha ever heard.

"_Brilliant. That man's dream…A hard year will pay off." _

What is he talking about? The dialogue is mismatched, and I slowly come to realize that Konoha wasn't entirely conscious of his surroundings at that moment.

"_How are you feeling, Konoha?" _

The voice I hear next belongs to the boy in question, but he doesn't sound quite like himself. He sounds slower and more distant, a bit out of it, perhaps.

"_Ko…no…ha? Where…is….this…? The hos…pital?" _

Hospital…What does that mean? At that time, was he thinking of a fading memory? If I try to read what he was thinking of back then, what will I find?

The temptation is strong, and my power feels like its taking control of me, finally glad to be released once more. I follow it into the depths of that fading thought that led to the utterance of Konoha's first words. That deep, buried memory…is of a girl. Takane.

I push him out of my mind all at once. I force the fleeting image of Takane, the last blurred remnant of something that is a part of Konoha that he may never get to claim, from my mind. I force it away until my power is once again tucked inside the pit of my stomach, where it can't spiral out of control and subject me to the dirty secrets of the world.

"What did you see?" Onee-chan asks, setting her hand on Konoha's shoulder and leaning closer to me so that her ear is pressed against my cheek.

"Not much," I answer, "His last memory is really only from last week…but there is one thing that he can remember from before than…I saw the faint figure of Takane…"

She squeals and covers her mouth with her hand. "T…then he really is…Haruka!"

"I don't know…" I whisper, "Just because he has a memory of Takane doesn't mean that he's Haruka, our father could have just showed him a picture of Takane or something…besides I don't even think that Konoha has realized that, that girl in his memory is Takane."

Onee-chan frowns at me and then quickly shrugs her shoulders, "Think what you will, but I'm convinced!"

Throughout this conversation, Konoha doesn't utter a single sound. Proving only further to me that Takane has been pushed so far back into his mind that even if I tell him that he's met her before he wouldn't even attempt at proving me wrong or right. She simply isn't a piece of him, anymore. She's just a fragment that will never be able to be reached again.

* * *

_**Part B of chapter 13.**_

* * *

_Kano's POV_

* * *

The suffocating night air makes me tired. Walking through shadows and thin pools of moonlight has always reminded me of the first time the truth of this world became evident to me. The first time that the monster spoke to me and the door to the dark world of lies and adulthood was left ajar.

I try to stifle a yawn, but it comes out anyway. Takane looks tired too, but for some reason Momo looks like she could stay awake for an entire day without feeling exhausted.

"Kano," Takane whispers, stooping over so that only I can hear her, "Would you be mad if I casually asked Momo to go on a date with you?"

I step on her foot and nod my head. She glares at me, acting like I'm the one in the wrong here.

"I'm sure she'd say yes," she mutters.

"It doesn't matter; I don't need you to confess to her for me!" I whisper shout.

She shrugs her shoulders, "I think that you kind of do, though…"

"My house is just up this way," Momo says pointing her finger in a different direction than we've been walking.

"Oh, mine is too!" Takane shouts, and then she frowns as if a painful memory has suddenly struck her.

"Kano, you don't need to come all the way, Takane and I will be fine, if you're too tired," Momo says, smiling at me.

I shake my head and smile back. "I'm not tired," I lie, "Besides, it feels good to be outside."

We keep walking, changing directions so that we're heading towards the area that Momo indicated.

"Isn't this romantic?" Takane swoons into my ear, "I think it's the perfect time for you to…"

My gosh she's annoying. Does she ever shut up?

I roll my eyes at her, and walk on ahead, so that all she can see is my back. Slowly, I inch my way towards the right side of the sidewalk, until I'm finally standing next to Momo.

Maybe Takane's right. If I don't speak up now I might not get the chance to talk to Momo for awhile so…

"M…Momo," I stutter, "Can I have your phone-num…"

I hear a loud, heavy thump and it forces me to stop mid-sentence. Feeling a bit annoyed and discouraged, I turn around to see what happened.

Momo starts screaming. Takane is lying facedown on the hard cement.

Within a moment Momo and I are both pressed down onto the ground with our fingers on her wrists. She has a pulse…at least.

"What happened?" Momo asks, her voice shaking and threatening to give out on her.

"I…don't know," I whisper. I almost start screaming myself.

It takes a moment before I'm able to calm down and think clearly. Takane isn't going to die. She has a health condition…That's why she was in the same class as Haruka. I can vaguely remember her mentioning her health problem once when I was posing as Nee-chan.

Even with this knowledge, though, part of me is still expecting her wrist, which I'm still clutching tightly between my fingers, to grow cold.

"Should we call an ambulance?" Momo panics.

I simply shrug my shoulders, unable to provide comfort or any suggestions. I've never been very good in crisis situations.

As Momo and I kneel over her, on the verge of having consecutive heart attacks, her body slowly starts to squirm. She smacks my wrists away and tries to reach her face with her hands, but doesn't seem to have enough energy.

"Takane?" I whisper.

Her head turns until her eyes are matched up with mine. "Kano?" she whispers back.

"Do you need help? Should we call an ambulance?" Momo asks once again.

Takane slowly shakes her head, "Na…no, I don't…It happens all the time."

Momo frowns, and carefully tries to help Takane to her feet. She's weak and dazed and I can't tell if she knows where she is or how she got here.

Finally, she's able to get to her feet, but she's wobbly and threatens to fall over again. I slip my arm around her waist, and she slips her arm over my shoulders, using me as a crutch. "Sorry, Kano," she whispers, "I didn't mean to worry you guys."

"Really, Takane?" I ask, "Why do you always assume that I'm worried about you?"

She chuckles and smiles at me, "Release me…I can walk on my own now…"

"Yeah right, what would I do if you passed out again?" Blood streams down onto my fingers and I quickly glance over my shoulder to see that it's coming from her arm. Oh. So that's it, she's only really hurt because she hit the cement hard. I stare down at her legs, and she seems to be limping a little. I wonder if she twisted her ankle, as well. I sigh as I take a step forward, her weight still pressing down on my back.

"I won't," she promises.

We walk until we reach Momo's house. She disappears inside with a call of, "Good night! Get better, Takane!"

I watch her slam the door closed and feel a bit upset. Because of all the flustering about Takane, Momo never gave me her phone-number like I asked…Oh well; at least I know where she lives now. Not that I would do anything creepy with that knowledge…

Finally, as the moon gets obscured by a cloud, we reach Takane's home. She moves her arm off of my shoulders and slowly walks towards the door. "Th…thanks for walking me here…Kano," she whispers, as she opens the door and closes it behind her.

The walk home, to say the least, is bland and very uneventful. For some reason, I can't help but feel like it'd be nice to have gotten Takane's phone-number too.

* * *

**Sorry that this chapter wasn't about Mary, also, sorry that I keep switching back and forth between the spellings of her name…totally unintentional, I swear. **

**Since many of you want to know where Mary is and what's happening to her, I promise that next chapter will be about that, so look forward to it. **

**Thank you for once again taking the time to read this, and please review! **


	14. Spellbind

**Five Months Later**

* * *

_Mary's POV_

* * *

I'm out of breath. I'm exhausted. I think I'm going to die! Stupid Shintaro, I could really die here!

If he had kept his promise I wouldn't have had to journey out of my house, and trudge out of the woods all alone. I'm surprised that I've even been able to make it this far in my weak body.

But yet, here I am, in the city that so many of my happy memories took place in. Yet, what will I find here? Even my friends, even Seto, will no longer be able to reminisce about those memories with me.

Unfortunately I can't travel to the future. And unfortunately that future doesn't exist anymore.

The world that I'll find now will be different than any of the worlds I've know. Whether it's better or worse, I'm stuck with it.

I just want Seto.

A wobbly step and I wind up tumbling to the ground. I'm thirsty and hot. The shade of the buildings around me, have cooled the pavement and my body feels a bit better, pressed up against it. I think I might lie here just a bit longer…

"Are you alright?" a girl asks. I try to see who's asking this, but as I turn my head in order to do so, I get blinded by the sun.

"Yeah," I simply whisper.

"At least let me help you up," she replies. Her blurry figure, drowning in the light of the sun, extends its hand out towards me.

I accept it and she brings me to my feet. Standing up once more, I begin to regain my composure a bit, and the sun seems a little less offensive. I can finally see the girl's face. She's quite pretty…She's…

"Momo-chan?" I mutter, in shock. I'm still holding her hand, but she quickly pulls it away.

"Ah, please don't ask me to sign an autograph!" she shouts, and then quickly corrects herself, "It's just that I'm…busy right now so…"

"Busy?" someone else asks, "That's a little hurtful…"

"I didn't mean it like that!" Momo calls, spinning around so that she can face the person behind her.

"Kano!" I shout, finally finding a smile on my lips.

He cocks his head, "Huh? She knows my name too? Momo…I think she's a…ya know…"

"A what?" Momo asks, with a quizzical look on her face.

"A stalker…" Kano replies. He makes it obvious that he doesn't care too much whether I can hear him or not. "How else would she know your boyfriend's name?"

"Boyfriend!?" I spit out, finding my own head tilting to the side in confusion.

"She's obviously not a stalker," Momo mumbles, smiling at me, "Maybe she's just met you before."

"I have!" I say, all the while wondering where I can say I've met him. I'm not good at lying, unlike Kano. I hate to lie, but I definitely can't tell the truth!

"Really? Where?" Kano asks me.

"The orphanage!" This is bad. My cheeks are red. I'm spiraling out of control.

"Oh? No wonder I don't remember you," he replies, shrugging his shoulders. He grabs Momo's arm and begins dragging her away, "Bye bye!"

"No wait!" I call, with a slight tinge of desperation and eyes that are threatening to give way to tears. I can't do this. It hurts! It hurts so much! I'm Momo's and Kano's friends! I care about them! But they…don't know me at all; they don't even want to know me. I'm just an inconvenience.

This is the worst. I want my friends back! I want to be part of the Mekakushi Dan again!

"Where…is Seto?" I ask as soon as I have their attention again.

"Seto?" Kano asks, "Why do you want to see Seto, were you his friend at the orphanage or something? Did you have some secret little crush on him?"

"I…I! Yes!" Oh no. What did I just say!? My head was swimming and I was trying to think of something to say, but I didn't want to say that! Anything but that, please!

Kano bursts out laughing. "Seriously? Momo…I want to see this play out…"

Momo smiles at him and nods her head, "We haven't bought tickets yet or anything, and she seems like a nice girl…maybe Seto will be happy to see her."

I take it that they're on a date, going to see a movie. However weird and wrong that seems to me, fact is fact. At least they seem happy together. And at least they're going to take me to see Seto!

"Come on," Momo says, "You can come to his apartment."

I smile at her and nod my head. I'm still exhausted, but thinking about seeing Seto gives me an added boost of energy, so I quickly follow her lead.

After walking for only about two blocks or so, we arrive at the hideout. "Here we are," Kano says, opening the door with his key.

He steps inside and Momo and I go in after him. The apartment looks almost the same as it does in my memories, and it makes me happy to find that at least one thing hasn't changed too much.

"Seto!" Kano calls, "Your long lost love has arrived!"

I blush, and frantically shake my head as Kano grins at me. Seto appears from out of the kitchen, with a confused and embarrassed look on his face. I immediately feel bad for all the lies I've told. I'm happy to see him again, though.

"Hello," he says to me, "Um…do I know you?"

"She was at the orphanage," Kano explains, "Apparently she had a huge crush on you and when she saw me she just couldn't resist asking to see you once more."

"Huh?" Seto sputters, "You had a crush on me?"

"No! I didn't…I just!" I can't think of anything to say.

"No need to be shy, just tell him how you feel!" Momo says, putting her hand on my shoulder.

"I…just want to be your friend!" I shout, grabbing onto the side of my dress to steady myself and quiet my thudding heart.

"Oh…" Seto whispers, "Well…what's your name?"

"Kozakura Mary," I reply, forcing a timid smile.

"Nice to meet you, Kozakura-chan," Seto says, smiling back at me.

"Please call me, Mary!" I say, unable to stop the words from leaving my mouth. I just want to hear Seto call my name again.

"Alright," he says, "Mary."

I can tell that he's a bit nervous and that I'm making him uncomfortable, but he doesn't seem to be upset about it, and for that I'm glad.

"I have an eye ability so…I just thought that…I could join the Mekakushi Dan," I whisper, I'm speeding things along. Talking about things I shouldn't know, and forcing relationships that haven't yet been born. I just want to go back to where I left off.

"You what now?" Momo asks, in shock.

I stare at Kano, to demonstrate my power, using it to freeze him for a moment. Seto and Momo both look at me with concern. Momo begins to panic and starts grabbing onto Kano's arm. "What did you do!?" she shouts at me.

A second later, Kano can move again and Momo finally begins to calm down. "Wow," Seto says, "You really are one of us!"

I nod my head, "Yep!"

"We should introduce you to Danchou!" Momo says, smiling at me, and grabbing my arm.

Does that mean I get to see Kido again? That sounds nice.

Momo leads me up the stairs and quickly knocks on the door that's now in front of us. "Are you home from work?" she asks.

In seconds a disheveled girl comes to the door, her brown hair is a bit messed up, and she has a red scarf lazily drooping from her neck. "Momo! Did your date go good…or wait, did you even go on your date? Oh no! Don't tell me…Is Kano heartbroken? Who's fault is it!?"

"Da…Danchou please don't jump to such conclusions," Momo mumbles, warily, "It's just that we've found a potential member of the Mekakushi Dan!"

This girl, she's the original Danchou! I'm finally getting to meet her! Shintaro succeeded! She's really alive!

"A new member?" the girl asks, "Really? Nice to meet you." She sticks out her hand and I quickly shake it. "I'm Tateyama Ayano, and you are?"

"Kozakura Mary," I say once more. I feel a bit dazed by this introduction, seeing Ayano alive is just so nice! Maybe everything really will be better this time around.

"Kozakura-chan…" Ayano whispers.

"She wants to be called Mary," Momo corrects her.

"Okay, Mary!" Ayano smiles at me and then begins to stare into my eyes. "What is your ability?"

I demonstrate it once again, and she seems pretty impressed. Things are going well. Soon I'll be a member of the Mekakushi Dan again.

"Alright, then…Welcome to the-"

Momo cuts her off, "But…shouldn't we have some sort of ceremony or something?"

"Ceremony? We've never had a ceremony before…" Ayano looks confused as she says this, but not angry.

"I know but…It just sounds fun…" Momo whispers.

Ayano nods her head, "Yep! Let's have a ceremony! Wait, is Takane here?"

Momo nods, "She's in Konoha's room."

"Perfect." Ayano then rushes out of her room and moves down the hall a bit until she reaches the door of another room.

"Come on," Momo says, guiding me back down the stairs. "How did you know about the Mekakushi Dan, anyway?" she asks me as we walk.

"Oh um…" I don't know what to say at this point. There's only one thing I can say, "Shintaro told me about it."

Momo stops walking. She just stands there frozen halfway down the stairs, with a sick expression on her face. "S…Shintaro?" she croaks, her lips quivering a bit.

Something's wrong here. "He's your brother…right?" I whisper, my own voice shaking.

"Well…yeah he is but…" she stops mid-sentence and tucks her hands into the pockets of her pink jacket, "He never even knew about the Mekakushi Dan."

"Ugh?" I squeal. What is she talking about? Never? What does never mean? And why wouldn't he have joined the Mekakushi Dan? I feel something twist within my stomach, and soon I feel like I'm going to throw up.

"You do know…that he died, right?" Momo asks, tears beginning to collect in the corners of her eyes.

This is a nightmare. I'll wake up. I just need to open my eyes…My eyes that are now pouring buckets of tears and allowing them to flow down my cheeks and onto the ground.

I have to lean on the stairwell to keep my balance. Suddenly I feel exhausted again, like I can't take another step. I feel hot again, like I can't breathe.

"Mary?" Momo puts her hand on my shoulder, and tries to help support me. She's obviously concerned about me, and normally that'd make me happy, but for some reason I can't shake the feeling that I don't deserve to be comforted.

"Momo…what are you talking about?" I finally whisper.

"Onii-chan jumped off the roof of his school in order to save Danchou," Momo replies.

"Jumped?" Oh no. I don't understand what she means, but I do understand that Shintaro had to die in order to rescue Ayano. Shintaro is dead. I reversed time for him, and now he's dead. Gone. Forever.

"How did you know him?" Momo asks me.

"He was my friend," I answer honestly.

"Really? I didn't know that Onii-chan had a 'thing' for younger girls…"

"Huh?" My tear-stained cheeks grow hot as I blush. "It isn't like that!"

Momo forces a smile and then takes her hand off my shoulder. "How did you meet him?"

I stare at her blankly for a moment. This is impossible. I can't keep creating a fake life for myself! I can't keep lying! "I think that it'd be a lot easier if Seto just read my mind."

"Oh…" Momo mumbles, "I don't think that he likes doing that very much."

"I know…but I really need him to, you won't believe me if I just tell you."

When I look up at Momo's face, she's still smiling. "Thank you for being Onii-chan's friend."

Without me being able to respond, we finish walking down the stairs and finally reach the living room. Ayano soon joins us. She brings with her, a black haired girl and a tall boy whose hair is as soft and white as my own.

"Mary, this is Enomoto Takane, and this Konoha," Ayano tells me, pointing at the two strangers.

Takane? With that name in mind I begin to realize that she isn't a stranger, after all. It's Ene! In this world Ene never lost her body!

"Nice to meet you," is all that I say.

"Nice to meet you too," Takane replies. Konoha simply nods in agreement.

Kido suddenly come out of the kitchen and walks over to me. "I'm Kido Tsubomi, call me Kido," she tells me.

"I'm Kozakura Mary, please call me Mary," I reply back.

She smiles at me, "Alright."

"Let's start!" Ayano calls, standing on her tiptoes so that we can all see her.

"Wait!" Momo yells, "There's something we need to do first!" Momo makes her way towards the center of out little cluster, until she's standing right next to Ayano.

"What do we need to do?"

"Seto, Mary wants you to read her mind," Momo answers.

Kano shoves Seto into the center and, with a dazed look on his face, he begins facing my direction.

Nervously, I allow my own feet to take me closer to him.

"Really, Mary?" he asks me.

I nod my head, "It's important!" I say with resolve.

He looks curious as he shrugs his shoulders and smiles warily at me. "Alright then…"

The room goes silent, for what feels like an hour. I can't feel anything, but Seto seems to be concentrating pretty hard. He looks a bit distressed, and it worries me. I'm sure that my memories are a lot for him to take in…I hope that they don't upset him too badly.

Finally he stumbles backwards a bit, and moves his right hand up to his head, brushing hair of his forehead with his fingers.

"Mary…" he whispers, "This all…really happened?"

"Yeah…"

"I'm sorry," he replies, "I could tell how hard this has been on you."

I stare down at the ground and half-heartedly shrug my shoulders as my tears begin to drip down again. I feel his hand on my cheek, and then his arms around me.

"Wait…" Kido mutters, "You're hugging her? You just met her…"

"No I didn't," Seto answers, and with those words, his arms remain where they are. I can feel his heartbeat and his warm breath on the back of my neck. My tears stop.

"What are you talking about?" Ayano asks him.

Seto tells them everything. He tells them about my power, about Shintaro's wish, about our promise, and about the other world that I forced them to forget. It takes hours, but no one spares the clock a single glance. Everyone but Seto is silent; all of them are consumed by his tale. I find that I'm also listening intently. Though I know the entire story already, something about hearing him tell it is soothing. In the end, I was able to give him his memories back. And I won't ever let him lose them again.

Once he's finally done, the room grows quiet for a brief moment as the others try to process everything that he's said. "That's…" Kido whispers, "Amazing."

"Onii-chan was a NEET? And Takane was trapped inside his computer!?" Momo gasps, looking back and forth between Takane and me.

I simply nod my head.

"So…" Kano whispers, "Nee-chan died…And Shintaro did all this just to save her?"

"The entire world was reset…because of me?" Ayano asks.

"Because of me," I say, "And Shintaro."

* * *

**Note: The beginning of this story takes place before Mary meets Konoha, and that is why she doesn't recognize him in this chapter. **

**I couldn't resist a bit of SetoMary fluff…I hope that it didn't detract from the purpose of this chapter. **

**Basically, this fic only has two or so chapters left. I know, it's kind of short, but I hope that it ends okay anyway. **

**Thank you reading this chapter and please review! **

**Also, happy birthday Mary! I honestly had no intentions of posting this chapter on her birthday; it's simply a nice coincidence. XD**


	15. Streamlined

_Mary's POV_

* * *

Even if I try to comfort Ayano, she still looks sick to her stomach. I feel the same way as she does. Guilty.

"Hold on!" Kano says, sticking his hand out towards me as a makeshift stop-sign. "If you have the power to reverse time…why can't you just use it again?"

I'm shocked. Can this misfortune really be put to rest by such a simple solution?

I almost express my enthusiasm to the others. I want to tell them how wonderful this is, how great it will be…But then, what if it isn't great? What if things turn out the same as they did the last time I used that power? What if all I create is another disaster? How will I cope if a different tragedy takes the place of this one?

I sigh loudly and shake my head frantically. "No!" I shout, not meaning to be as loud as I am, "That's too much of a risk!"

"What are you talking about?" Kano asks me, "There's no risk whatsoever as long as we all keep our memories. Ayano will know better than to kill herself, thank goodness and…"

"He's right!" Takane says, perking up and joining the conversation. She seems thrilled about this plan, and while I'm glad that she's happy, it also makes me a bit nervous. I could easily disappoint her.

She stares at Konoha, who's standing next to her with a distant expression on his face. He doesn't seem to be very interested in this conversation. I can't help but wonder who he is. I know that he's a new member of the Mekakushi Dan, but why? How did everyone meet him? What's his ability? Why is Takane still starring at him?

She purses her lips and frowns a bit as she says, "Then…I could save him…"

At first I think that she's talking about Shintaro, but as I watch her sad eyes slowly drift away from Konoha, I realize that I have it all wrong. She wants to save Konoha. But from what? He's here isn't he? He looks fine to me, so why does he need saving?

"But…even if we do go back in time, how can we stop that snake?" Kido asks, concerned.

"That's a good question…" Kano seems nervous as he meets Kido's eyes. Whatever this snake that they're talking is, it's important. They all seem a bit jittery at the mere mention of it. Is the snake the reason that I've had to rewind life so many times before? Is it the thing that keeps killing my friends?

"I mean," Kido mumbles, "It isn't like we could bring things all the way back to before mom died…right?"

Ayano looks like she's going to burst into tears. "I wish that we could, but making the whole world repeat all those years would be ridiculous."

"It's not like they'd know the difference," Kano mumbles, "Besides, as long as that snake is inside of him, it isn't going to stop, wouldn't it be easiest just to go back to before it ever crawled into this world? We could stop mom and dad from ever going on that stupid dig, and then they'd both be fine and we all would be too."

"That snake would still enter our lives, eventually," Ayano whispers, "I mean, as soon as a couple of people die on August fifteenth, it has a sure doorway into this world! Can we really stop it?"

"I don't know, Nee-chan," Kano sighs, "I just can't see the harm in going back a few extra years in order to stand a chance at actually staying alive. What's the point in bringing Shintaro back just so that we can all die anyway?"

"That isn't going to happen, Kano!" Ayano shouts, crossing her arms over her chest, "I won't let it!"

"For once in my life, I agree with Kano," Kido says, "Isn't it the best way to prevent everything from spiraling out of control like this?"

"Wait a second!" I call, waving my hands in the air, "I'm not even sure that I should use my powers at all! I don't want to destroy the world again!"

"You didn't destroy the world in the first place, Mary!" Seto tries to calm me down, and I'll admit that it works for a second, but I'm really a bit too panicked to be soothed.

"You have to use your powers, Mary!" I'm not at all surprised to hear Momo say this, her brother's life is at stake, after all. "If anything goes wrong I'll take full responsibility for it!"

Everyone seems to really want me to use my powers. If they all feel this way, then shouldn't I do it for them? I want my friends to be happy, so of course I should.

"Alright," I whisper, "When…should I go back to?"

They all still seem a bit flustered by this question. "Should we take a vote…?" Takane asks, cocking her head to the side.

Kido nods, "Yeah."

"Alright then," Takane whispers, "All those who only want to go back to before August fifteenth of this year raise your hands."

Cautiously, Ayano puts her hand in the air. "There has to be another way to stop him," she says.

"There isn't," Kano mumbles.

"Okay," Takane says, "Then can I assume that the rest of us want to go back to before that monster possessed Tateyama-sensei?"

Momo, Kano, Kido, and Seto nod their heads. "No opinion, Mary?" Takane asks me.

"I don't really…understand the situation enough to have one," I answer.

Takane grins at me, "Figures. But what about you, Konoha!?"

"Um…"

"Seriously Takane?" Kano asks, "You can't expect the guy who didn't even exist last year to make a decision like this."

"Oh…you're probably right about that." Takane blushes as she nods her head, and nervously pats Konoha's shoulder.

"Looks like we're going three years back," Seto whispers as his eyes meet up with mine.

I nod my head ever so slightly. "Yeah, I guess we are."

Ayano looks nervous, but for a second, I think that I see relief on her face. I wonder why it is that she's so hesitant to be happy. Maybe she and I are the same; both afraid of gaining joy and watching it slowly disappear from our view.

Suddenly something dawns on me. "Hold on," I say, "If Konoha didn't exist a year ago won't this be bad for him?"

Takane grins at me and shakes her head, "No, he did 'exist,' he just has amnesia right now, but if we go that far back than he'll just be the person he was before he got amnesia."

"Is he okay with that?" I ask.

Takane glances at Konoha, waiting for him to answer me. He smiles, "Takane will still be there, right?"

"Yep!" Takane shouts, "And maybe…we can kiss again."

Konoha cocks his head to the side and then quickly bobs it up and down. "Sounds…good to me."

What exactly is their relationship!? Wait a minute…There's no way that Konoha is actually that Haruka person that Takane used to love, right? He died, didn't he? Or maybe…that's why he needs to be saved.

"Three years back, then?" I ask, "And everyone will keep their memories?"

Mostly everyone nods, but Momo holds up a finger, quickly putting the situation on pause. "I don't want to keep my memories."

As soon as the words leave her mouth, everyone panics, especially Kano. "Why?" Kido asks her.

"I…want to forget about Shintaro's death…I don't want to look at him everyday and have to remember his funeral…I don't want to live in fear that something like that will happen again, and the same goes for my father. Three years ago he was alive. Three years ago, I didn't even have this troublesome power. I just want to be a happy eleven year-old again. I'm so sorry Kano, but I swear to you that there's no way my eleven year-old self won't wind up totally smitten with you."

I can't tell if the smile on Kano's face is fake or real. I assume fake. I assume that he's heartbroken. I might be being overdramatic. Who knows?

"You'd better keep that promise," he mumbles.

"Oh, and everyone, please make sure to never let me go to the beach. I really don't want to die again…or have my dad die again."

Kano grins at her, "I can promise you that."

That reminds me of something. "Seto!" I call, "Can you promise me something too?"

"I'll go to your house as soon as time reverses," he says, already one step ahead of me. I guess he knows pretty much everything; he did dig inside my mind for a pretty long time, after all. "I promise," he finishes.

Kano and Momo quickly hug, and Takane throws her arms around Konoha, as if she's trying to mirror their actions.

"Okay everyone! I'm going to use my powers now!" I say.

"See you all on the other side!" Takane grins at us, as she breaks her hug with Konoha. "Ooh! And Shintaro! Ayano you have to take me to his house with you so that you can casually introduce him to me…If I go alone I'll just seem creepy."

Ayano nods at her and smiles. "Will do."

My vision is obscured and I feel dizzy as my eyes glow and my power works its magic. I hope that everything will go well this time. I really, really do.

Maybe now we can find a happiness that won't fade.

* * *

**Sorry that this chapter is sort of short. One of the last few chapters and it's the shortest one yet, isn't that nice? Hopefully I can make the next one fairly long to make it up to you guys. **

**I probably also messed up the timeline a lot in this chapter. I'm not entirely sure when Ayaka or Shintaro's dad died, so you'll have to forgive me for that, as well. **

**A giant thanks to all the lovely people who are reading this! Please review! **


	16. Rewind

_Takane's POV_

* * *

I'm sitting in front of my computer, with headphones clinging to my ears, and a faint screaming sound buzzing through my ears. I must have been playing Dead Bullet 1989.

It's really no surprise. My life used to consist of two things, video games and school. For the first time in my life, though, I wish that I was at school instead of the online realm.

I exit out of the game, not bothering to reach a save point first, and shut my computer down.

It's dark outside, and from the digital clock on the desk next to me I can tell that it's six minutes after midnight. I'm sure that everyone else is asleep, including Haruka. I sigh as I lay down on my bed. My arms stretch up and hang over the edge. My blankets are still underneath me, and though I know that I should just pull them up over me and go to sleep, I can't.

In a silky blue nightgown, I sneak outside into my yard. My grandmother goes to bed at eight, so it wasn't hard to get past her.

It's cold outside. I'm not sure what time of year it is, just that it's cold. I'm glad that I remembered to put on a pair of shoes, since there's puddles of rain settled in the streets.

I know the way to his house. I've gone there a handful of times, as a friend at times, as a classmate at others. Still though, my legs quiver as I climb up the steps to his front door. If one of his parents answers the door, I'll jump into the bushes, but they're normally out of town, so that shouldn't be a problem. I ring the doorbell. I'm just a midnight visitor here to wake up the whole neighborhood.

The door stays closed. I wait and wait, but he doesn't come. I'm not sure how much time passes, I don't have a watch, but I can feel my arms grow stiff from the cold, and I know that it's time to give up and go home.

What I know and what I do are usually two different things.

His house only has one level. It isn't that it's small, it's a normal size, maybe even bigger than mine, but that doesn't change the fact that it's only one level. With a setup like this it isn't necessary to climb up a vine and frantically tap on his window, while hanging on with my non-existent upper body strength. Instead, I simply creep over to the window of his room, and start knocking on it like crazy.

Yes, I know that he's a sickly teenager and that he needs sleep or whatever, but my pounding heart doesn't seem to care.

His curtains pull open, and there he is, in a worn out white t-shirt and long brown pajama pants. He rubs his eyes, and tilts his head to the side. "Takane?" he mumbles, still half asleep.

I smile like a fool. "Haruka!" I really want to hug him! However, the mere shred of rationality left in my veins prevents me from smashing his window and jumping through the broken glass in order to do so.

"I'm glad that you're here," he says, smiling back at me. "I feel weird."

"Oh no! Haruka go let me in, I'll take you to the hospital!" I shout while simultaneously running back to his front door.

It takes awhile for him to finally pull it open for me, but I'm through it and inside the house as soon as he does. "I don't mean that I have to go to the hospital," he says. That's a relief and a half to me. "I just…Think I had a weird dream."

"What kind of dream?" I ask him.

His cheeks turn red and he shakes his head. "That doesn't matter! Anyway, why are you here, Takane? Do you need help with something?"

I shake my head as my own cheeks grow hot. "I just wanted to see you." I wonder if he thinks I'm weird. At this time in our lives we're both still in our first year of high school, and we should just barely be starting to become friends.

"Oh…" I think I'm going to give him a heart attack. I've never seen someone turn this color. He looks like his blood is going to start on fire. "Do you want something to eat?"

That question is so familiar that I can't help but laugh. "No, but I really do want to hear what you dreamed about." I have my suspicions, but I can't consider them anything more than that unless he confirms them for me.

"Well…I want chocolate!" He stands up off the couch that we were both sitting on, and takes a step towards his kitchen. I wrap my hand around the back of his shirt and force him to sit back down.

"Do you know someone named Konoha?"

A blank look. "Konoha?"

Of course he doesn't know him. He hasn't even started playing Dead Bullet 1989. What was I thinking?

"T…Takane…Did you have a weird dream too?" he asks me.

"Um…" I can't decide whether to nod or shake my head. It will be too hard to explain everything to him, so maybe I'll just pretend that all really was a dream.

"Konoha was in my dream too! Isn't that weird?" he casually smiles at me, not realizing how much his simple words shake my core.

"That wasn't a dream, Haruka," I whisper, clutching my scrawny legs in my hands to keep them from shaking.

"Wait? What?" he laughs a bit, "Takane, of course it was you wouldn't kissmeinreallife."

"I wouldn't what?" I ask.

"What happened in your dream?" Crap. He still thinks it's a dream!

"It's a memory, Haruka! And anyway, you died or I guess that you actually got amnesia and your hair turned white and well…I met Konoha-you, in a grocery store and then we ate dinner together and you kissed me and-"

"You wouldn't mind?"

"Mind what?"

"If I kissed you?"

"Keep up, Haruka! I'm telling you that you already did!"

He leans towards me, pinning a pillow down between the couch cushions with his arm, and presses his warm, soft lips against mine. "I believe you."

Through blazing cheeks, a racing heart, and buzzing lips I ask, "So then, you really do remember being Konoha?"

He gently nods his head, "Yeah. But I don't…it's just so hard to wrap my mind around. Since you actually let me kiss you though, it isn't all that hard to believe anymore."

"Huh? You're that surprised that I like you?"

"Yeah…I love you too, Takane!"

Eeeeeeh!? Love? Why did he say love?

The red coloring that has gradually been leaving his face comes back with a vengeance. Ah. It was a slip of his tongue.

I laugh, and it comes out a bit unladylike, but I make up for it by saying, "Don't worry, that's what I actually wanted to say too."

* * *

_Ayano's POV_

* * *

"Nee-chan, wake up!"

My room is dark and cold. The tranquil sound of rain, pounds against the house and straight into my skin. I thought that it was summer.

I look up too see Kano standing over me, his face is masked by the shadows, but I can tell that he's smiling. There's something off about him, and it takes awhile for me to realize what it is. He's three years younger.

The thick fog clouding around my brain finally leaves me and I'm able to think clearly. Mom's alive. Shintaro's alive. That's the kind of world I'm in now. Clearly, it's a world worth hopping out of bed and running up the stairs for.

Kano runs after me and our footsteps thud on the staircase. We aren't bothering with hushed movements and whispers; we want to wake the world.

"Go to bed!" a man shouts, from the room that's now directly in front of us.

I laugh as I throw the door open and walk in. I throw myself onto the big, fluffy bed and lie between my parents as if I'm a five year-old who's trying to get over a harsh nightmare.

Kano stands at the doorway, running his finger over the wooden frame. I beckon to him to come closer, but he ignores me.

"Ayano!" mom shouts pulling her sheets down and starring at me with wide eyes.

I'm crying. Usually I fight tears, usually I fail, but this time I don't bother trying. Tears of joy should be worn with pride.

"What's the matter?" she asks me, her voice rising in pitch as her concern for me grows.

"I just love you so much!" I shout, throwing my arms around her. Dad rolls over so that he's finally facing me, and as soon as he does my arms are around him too. "Kano! Get over here!" I yell.

I look over my shoulder and find him grinning. Apprehensively he steps closer to the bed, and slowly crawls towards the center. I tuck his small blond head under my arm so that he has no choice but to join the hugging fest.

Kido and Seto are at the doorway now. They stand where Kano stood moments before, but unlike him, they don't stop there. They're on the bed and in the hug within seconds, both of them bawling their heads off. Suddenly were three years younger and acting like children. I think that's great.

Mom and dad are beyond startled. "What happened?" dad asks, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

No one answers him. No one knows how.

"Seriously, why are you all crying!?" he asks us.

"We missed you!" I say, even though such a statement will only serve to confuse them further.

Mom smiles at me, and slowly runs her fingers through my hair. "Well, we're right here, always will be." She doesn't know how ironic that sentence is, but yet, it's also comforting. This time around, I'll make sure that she never leaves, that she really is always right here by my side.

I break the hug, and dash towards the doorway with a smile on my face. "I've got to go see Shintaro!" I shout.

"Ah! Wait! I'm coming!" Kano says, chasing after me for the second time this hour.

"You just want to see Momo," I tease.

He nods, "Of course."

I have on a thin pair of red pajamas that are covered in silly pink hearts. I wonder what Shintaro will think of this odd getup, but I don't actually care. I don't have any makeup on, my cheeks are red and tearstained, but I still want to see him.

The path to his house is as clear as a map inside my mind. The walk is short and Kano and I are there before we're even out of breath.

"What now?" I ask, turning to face Kano. He looks at me with a blank expression and knocks on the wooden door in front of us. "Kano!" I whisper shout. "You're going to wake their parents too!"

He shrugs his shoulders. "Does that really matter?"

Maybe he's right. I don't think that it does. I'll do anything to get rid of this aching in my chest. This _need _to see him and make sure that he can actually _be _seen.

A tall man with dark black hair and deep bags under his eyes opens the door with an exasperated sigh. "I don't know who you kids are, but this isn't funny!" he yells, glaring at us.

"Ah…um…" I stutter.

"She's Shintaro's friend," Kano answers for me.

"Right! And I have to tell him something reaaaaallllly important so if you could…"

He raises his eyebrows and holds up a finger as he walks away from us, leaving the door open behind him. "I'll go get him."

"Thank you!" I whisper as a smile starts to creep across my face.

A few minutes later I hear footsteps coming towards us, and I put a strand of hair in place, trying to make myself look decent. "What the heck, Ayano!" Shintaro yells as he walks towards us, "You'd better have a broken leg or something because this is ridicu-"

Again with the tears. I find that I can't stop. I can't breath. "Shintaro!" I sob, wiping my cheeks with the sleeves of my pajamas.

His eyes widen and he motions for us to come into his house. "What happened?" he asks, awkwardly putting his hand on my shoulder and then pulling it away a split second later.

"Shintaro I…realized something," I whisper.

"W-what?" he mouths, unable to make a sound.

We both know what's coming next. This awkward situation only comes once in a relationship. "I love you," I whisper.

"Stop!" he yells, his voice breaking with panic. "Love me!? Where did that come from?"

At this point in time I shouldn't even know him very well. I should only have met him less than a year ago, and we should only be desk mates. I shouldn't even know where he lives, but yet here I am, telling him I love him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that!" I spout, my tears finally stopping. "I just…Really care about you."

"Oh well…Um…" He doesn't know how to respond. "Thanks…I guess."

Unable to hold back any longer, my head hits his shoulder and my arms wrap around his skinny frame. To my surprise, he doesn't pull away. We stay like this, and its okay. To be just like this is fine. Even if he can't yet understand how much he means to me, how much I've missed him and cried over him, I'm still happy. We're together, and the possibilities ahead of us are limitless. Someday, he'll tell me he loves me. I know he will. After all, he did die with that love in his heart. With a little sunlight and water, it will grow again.

"I still don't get why you had to wake up my entire family just to tell me that…" he mumbles.

I shrug my shoulders, "You can blame my younger brother for that."

Shintaro breaks free from my arms and bends his neck to the left so that he can see over me and to where Kano is standing. "Why is he here, anyway?"

"He has a crush on your sister," I answer.

"Momo!? How has he even met her!?"

"It's best not to over think it," I mumble, remembering that Momo isn't an idol yet. Actually, in this world she'll never become an idol. Well, I guess there's a chance, but without her powers that chance is slim. Maybe she'll enjoy life more this way.

If I crane my neck, I can see Kano scowling at my back and blushing a deep red. I laugh at him but he just rolls his eyes at me.

"Ayano, can you…leave now? I went to bed tonight with the intention to sleep," Shintaro mutters.

Okay, he might not be the nicest guy in the world yet, but he has potential. Maybe if I introduce him to Takane tomorrow she can help me scrape off a bit of his rust.

* * *

_Mary's POV_

* * *

I wake up to the chirping of birds and a bright patch of sunlight on my face. And, a loud knocking sound.

It doesn't take me long to realize what's happening. I know in a heartbeat, that he's here.

I stumble to the door, with a yawn and a light airy feeling in my chest. He stands across from me with a warm smile on his face and open arms. I close his arms around me and we stay like that for what I wish was an eternity.

"Seto, you came," I whisper.

"Of course, I promised you, didn't I?" he asks, patting my head with his small eleven year-old hand.

I nod the head that he pats and bury my face in his shirt. I can hear his heart beating inside of him, and I wonder if my own heart is beating as fast as his is. "Come on," he says, moving away from me and turning his back to me. At first I think that I've upset him somehow and he doesn't want to see me anymore, but then I notice how his arms are bent at his sides. He doesn't start walking, because his waiting for me to climb up his back.

He helps me up until my arms are around his neck and his arms are around my legs. Then, he starts walking.

"We're having a reunion today," he tells me.

"Really?" I ask, excited. We'll all be together today, and we'll all be happy. It's the type of day that I never thought that I'd get to see again.

Seto doesn't complain once as he carries me through the woods. He smells like grass and flowers. His hair brushes against my face as the wind passes through us. His back is so warm and his arms are so strong. I've missed this wonderful feeling of protection and ease that he grants me. To be by his side is to be safe and loved.

We pass through trees until there are no more. We reach a road and he crosses over it, still not putting me down. Soon, we're in a park. There aren't many people here, I guess that it's the time of day that work and school are in session. There's a cluster of people all standing around a bench, though, and each one of them is familiar to me.

My dear friends.

* * *

_Shintaro's POV_

* * *

I thought that it would just be Ayano. She sent me a text this morning telling me to ditch school and meet her at the park. After her weird behavior last night I was more than hesitant, but out of sheer curiosity, I came here. There are so many people I don't know, but yet they all seem so happy to see me.

I'm beginning to wonder if Ayano is just a weird person with weird friends.

Like Takane, who upon meeting me, told me her name and gave me a hug. "It's so nice to meet you, Shintaro!" she said with a giant smile on her face.

Then there's that girl with the puffy dress and the even puffier hair. She's actually _odder_ than Ayano. She started crying when she saw me every bit as hard as Ayano did last night, and she doesn't even know me!

There's also Ayano's little brother and his random crush on Momo.

I think I woke up in a parallel universe.

"So, Shintaro, what do you think?" Ayano asks, sitting down on the same bench as me.

I shrug, "I've been to this park a million times before."

She laughs, "Not of the park! Of my friends!"

"Oh…Haruka seems nice." It's true. He's the only one who acted normal when we met, the only one who didn't act like we had already known each other for years.

"What about Takane?" she asks me.

I shrug once more, "She's alright."

"Mekakushi Dan? What's that?" I hear Momo ask. She's standing far away with her back pressed against a tree, and Kano is standing next to her with the same grin on his face that always seems to be there.

"They're good people," Ayano tells me, putting her hands down onto her lap and nodding her head. "Please learn to love them as much as I do!"

"Huh?" I mumble. Ayano really is weird. Her earnest eyes and her mouth pursed with determination steal my heart away, though, and I find myself nodding back.

She smiles at me, "Thank you…I'm sure you'll fit right in with them in no time!"

Though I'm not sure if I want to fit in with these people, I know that something about this afternoon at the park, as foreign as it is, is also a little familiar. Actually…

"Shintaro? Are you crying? Whoa! Oh my gosh your eyes are really red, are you okay?"

"Thank you, Ayano."

"For what?"

"Caring about me enough to have Mary rewind time." Her eyes are wide and she bites her top lip to stop herself from crying. "Oh, and by the way….I love you too."

_No one knows what the future holds in store. All we know is what has already transpired. _

_So, tell me. Now that you know the tale thus far, what do you plan to do about the future that lies ahead?_

* * *

**I hope the ending isn't confusing. **

**The quote at the bottom is from episode eleven of Mekakucity Actors. **

**This story has been so much fun to write, and I'm actually kind of sad to have to end it. I want to thank anyone who's been following this and reading all the chapters for doing so. I appreciate it so very much, and it has made it all the more enjoyable. Please leave me one final review! **


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